Flights Of Fantasy
[ M Panging Pao ]
Weekly ‘haat’ daily markets are very popular in Arunachal and nearby areas. While these markets are termed ‘weekly’, in reality they are daily markets, since they operate every day from different locations and operate throughout the year. These markets are thronged by local people due availability of a variety of items at much cheaper rates compared to normal markets. Another speciality of these daily markets is that most sellers/traders are from outside the state.
However, availability of items much cheaper than normal markets hide a paradigm shift towards a parallel economy which is unregulated, unlicensed and untaxed. Most of the sellers in daily markets do not have licences to operate and have not paid licence fees to the state. All these sellers also do not have GST registration and thus are not paying taxes to the state and the nation. Since these sellers/traders do not pay tax and licence fees, they can sell products at much cheaper prices.
In comparison, the sellers/traders in normal markets pay licence fees for trading licences, pay GST, and have to sell products at MRPs. These sellers/traders contribute to the growth of the economy of the state and the nation. Finally, these taxes and licence fees are used by the government for welfare schemes and development projects like building roads, bridges, railways, schools, etc. This means that these unorganized, unregulated daily markets are not contributing to the growth of the state/nation and thus are running a parallel economy. As per estimates, this parallel economy of daily markets runs into hundreds of crores of rupees in Arunachal alone.
Similarly, there are many unregulated direct traders/sellers who do personal selling, visiting homes in towns and villages. These traders/sellers roam around the towns and villages, selling random items like blankets, mattresses, suitcases, carpets, bedsheets, etc. These traders are also unlicensed and do not pay taxes. These direct sellers are also bypassing the state/nation’s economic system. In addition, they are outside elements who have penetrated into our interior villages without accountability and could have potential criminal implications.
Should these daily markets and personal sellers/traders be allowed to operate without valid licences and without paying taxes to the state? Should the regular shop owners with valid licences and GST registrations suffer at the cost of these unregulated and unlicensed traders?
Another aspect is that all these traders/sellers in daily markets and personal sellers are from outside the state. The earnings of these traders/sellers are draining our hard earned money outside the state without contributing to the growth of the state.
Already, a majority of Arunachal money is being channelled into towns/cities of nearby states like Tinsukia, Dibrugarh, Jonai, Lakhimpur, Harmuti, Tezpur, etc.
Isn’t it time to regulate these daily markets and direct sellers to bring them under the system of taxes and trading licences? Should we continue with this parallel economy amounting to hundreds of crores of rupees? After all, it is our hard earned money.
(The contributor is retired Group Captain, Indian Air Force)
