Pankaj Kumar's Weblog

I usually find Mr. Aiyar's columns highly sensible, but this suggestion


Simply drop the money by helicopter or gas balloon (or even Diwali rocket) over rural areas. The poor will scramble over ridge and valley to gather every note, but it will not be worth the while of the rich, bureaucrats or contractors to do the same.


in his latest column on reducing poverty is simply absurd. I can understand his frustration with India's inefficient beurocracy which eats up upto 80% of all the money earmarked for poverty reduction programs, but the solution is certainly not to comeup with such absurd ideas.


Why do I think it is ill-devised:

1. The corruption responsible for eating up upto 80% can easily do the same very easily with the money to be air-dropped, by simply not dropping the money.


2. The society usually honors the rightful ownership of the money. If someone claims a note to be his or hers, just because he or she first spotted or grabbed it, the ownership to the money may not be accepted so easily by others, causing rampant fights and general unrest.


3. Even in ancient times, kings have found clever way to distribute money during periods of draught or flood -- mostly by initiating projects that create work, not by giving away notes or coins.