Chosen poverty ( In Indian context ) Concluding Part – 2

(Recap- In the first part of the blog, I focused on that class of people that had been neglected ofor centuries in the social system and forced to live in the abject poverty…..)

In our India there exists a class, huge in numbers in shape of population. This class is far ahead in enjoying all the amenities of life and own all kind of facilities compatible for the present living standard of life. Though in true sense, this class is not poor from any angle by virtue of its earning capacity. But whenever and wherever, this class finds necessary to claim herself as a poverty-stricken class, unhesitatingly it prefers to claim that. One category of this class, though meager in number, is very interesting to observe because of very demeanor they follow.

People of this category, in fact are well-off but are fond to pose themselves as “poor or very common people.” Truly say, it’s like mental sickness they are infested with. On visiting their home place, one may find  an ambiance of cozy and comfortable life style. I meant, a modern house they own equipped with splendid living room, cozy bedrooms added with all the amenities and modern kitchen etc. But cynicism to pose as poor person gripped them to the core of the heart. To satisfy this whim, firstly they focus on their attire. In this whim, firstly they give up their life long accustomed attire of suite-booted style and replace that with new poor style.

For this, firstly they replace modern attire with roughly woven traditional Khadi (hand spun cotton cloth.) Now they wear Indian pajama (trouser) and kurta (shirt.) The foot gears which previously were modern leather made boots get replaced by simple slippers or sandales. To grow a beard is “essential’ and hair on the head always remain disheveled. If some one of them is fond of smoking, publically such person gives up using smoking cigarette. In stead he opts for Indian bidi ( indigenous cigarette made of Tendu leaf and stuffed with tobacco powder. ) In this common appearance, an Indian bag is essential to hung on one of the shoulders with a strap. This bag may contain copy of daily newspaper and some magazines or books.

Basically, this “appearance” of posing as “extremely common man” had been symbolic to workers of Indian National Congress Party in the past and of  “comred” of Indian Communist party” for long. But now, this is the most preferred costume of cynical rich people who opt to become a social worker or reformer. This bout of cynicism may be short lived or may continue for years as a hobby. Superficially, they transform themselves to look like a “poor common man.” They are trendy chosen poverty people, we are witnessing widely in our Indian society.  The most suitable term I find ” experimental poor” for this category.

The main aim behind this appearance is bigger one. By the assistance of this fake appearance, they try to become a popular leader in the name of social reformer. Even people from this category don’t hesitate to take a shanty on rent  in some slum area to become as poor dweller. Apart from this category, a good deal number of people are of those, who despite being in strong financial position, maneuver to get enlist their name in the “welfare schemes”, solely being run for extremely poor people. It’s not surprising, many of them succeed in this attempt to get the benefits of “free of cost house”  and in issuing the special “white card ration card” to obtain ration on the nominal cost from government run shops.

An another category of generous people is omnipresent one. They are “tax evading ” people, when ever and where ever they find an opportunity. Specifically, these people try this contrivance in the matter of payment of Income tax. No matter if they earn handsome income from various sources. But at the time of filing of “Income Tax return” format, they are given to show their income in the slab “free from Income tax.” For this contrivance” they blame the government for being excruciating in recovery of Income tax about their hard earned money.

Otherwise also, from the day of the independence to the present time, the income tax exemption slab was always felt so “minimum” by people in our country, that looked like a farcical thing. Just up to the year of 2025,  exemption of Income Tax up to the yearly income was for around rupees 300,000 to 350,ooo per annum. About fifteen years ago this exemption was around rupees 50, 000 to 100,000 only. After this exemption slab, the charges were so higher which people in general felt excruciating.

It’s surprising to notice that in  our country merely 3-5% of population prefer to pay the income tax. And in this a good deal of number of income tax payer is number of government employees. Since these employees receive salary on the record and they are forced to pay for that, they are in no position to evade that. Tiring at the last, suddenly government raised this exemption slab to the extent of rupees of 1000,000 annually. This helped greatly to this “self proclaimed poor class people” of tax evaders of the the country. I too put them under the head of “chosen poverty” class, though now they seemed to get riddance of this title.

This is another issue that government has an expertise to collect the tax either in this way or that way. At the one hand it raised the “tax exemption slab” but on the other hand it also imposed the GST (Goods and Services tax.)  But there also, these shrewd people also maneuvered to transact  deal on rough papers ( fake papers.) Though from time to time, taxation surveillance nab these people but still many go as escaped. It’s also an example of a kind of “chosen poverty.  At the end, people of our country, in every field try to take benefit of every opportunity which may cost nothing to them. Some times, it felt to me, almost entire country is opting for “chosen poverty ( End of the series.) Penned by– Vinay Pharasi —-