Dhan Vapasi is a revolutionary idea that can eliminate poverty, create crores of jobs that young India so desperately needs and make government more effective. It builds on India’s domestic strengths to drive economic growth. Think of Dhan Vapasi as a new economic model to put all Indians on the path to prosperity – in the least possible time.
Dhan Vapasi is about returning the public wealth of India to the people. This public wealth is locked up in land, PSUs (public sector undertakings) and minerals. Nayi Disha’s estimate is that this amounts to over ₹50 lakh for every family in India. Under the Dhan Vapasi programme, Rs 1 lakh would be returned annually to every household.
Public and Private Wealth
Let us first understand the difference between private and public wealth. Private wealth is the stuff we own – house, car, bike, gold, etc. It is our private property. Public wealth, on the other hand, is the stuff that is collectively owned but is controlled by the government. The use of public wealth is decided by the bureaucrats and politicians. Letting the government control our wealth is like allowing bank managers to use our deposits as their personal money!
What’s the Extent of Our Poverty?
As a country, India is rich. But Indians overall are still very poor. The median Indian family earns just Rs 10,000 a month, or about Rs 1.2 lakh per year. Most of India is stuck labouring away in fields or working in the MNREGA scheme, which earns them about Rs 6,000 a month and low-end formal sector jobs which pay about Rs 15,000 a month.
90 percent of Indian households have a net worth of less than Rs 6.5 lakh, which means that the average Indian family’s net worth would be just Rs 2-3 lakh.
How Can Dhan Vapasi Help?
Dhan Vapasi is the great leveller, the natural equaliser. By returning the wealth of the people back to them, it becomes possible for every family to get a start in life. It lets them get past the lack of access to cash and credit which keeps them poor. Dhan Vapasi gives every family the freedom to make the decisions which will start them on the path to prosperity.
An analogy is that your ancestors have hidden away a lot of gold which belongs to you, but you don’t even know about it.
The gold can help you take life on a different plane and let you fulfill your dreams. If you are not going to use it to create a better life for yourself now, when are you going to do it?
India today stands at the crossroads. Successive governments through the decades have denied Indians the freedom to create wealth. Dhan Vapasi is the solution which can finally give all Indians the freedom to chart their own course to wealth creation and prosperity.
(This article was originally published on Nayi Disha and has been republished here with permission.)
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