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Nov 15, 202210 min read

Nominating Hon’ble Finance and Corporate Affairs Minister of India, Mrs. Nirmala Sitharaman, f

Posted on 16/11/2022

Updated on 19/11/22

To

Marc Abrahams,

The Editor,

Improbable Research

To

David Kessler,

The General Manager,

Improbable Research

Sub: Nominating Hon’ble Finance and Corporate Affairs Minister of India, Mrs. Nirmala Sitharaman, for the Ig Nobel Prize in Economics

Dear Marc and David,

We are nominating Mrs. Niramala Sitharaman, the Hon’ble Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs, Government of India, for the Ig Nobel Prize in Economics for her undeniable contribution to the growth of the Indian economy in the last few years.

Mrs. Sitharaman was initially a salesgirl in London. Thereafter, she joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and became the Defence Minister of India (2017-19). After the demise of former Finance Minister Mr. Arun Jaitley, she took oath as the Finance Minister of the Government of India (2019-). She also assumed charge as the Minister of Corporate Affairs from 2019 onwards.

Though some conspiracy theorists in the anti-BJP camp, even a scholar from within the BJP, criticized Mrs. Sitharaman for her meagre knowledge in economics and fiscal auditing (there is a gulf of difference between real economics and fiscal auditing), yet, she is the toughest woman to resist such false criticisms as she ranks 37th in the Forbes 2021 list of World’s 100 most powerful women⤡ (she was ranked 34th in the 2019 Forbes List). These types of negative criticisms are nothing but the expressions of professional jealousy within the ambit of patriarchy.

Sitharaman doesn’t know economics: Subramanian Swamy VIEW HERE ⤡ (As reported on 1st December, 2019 ©India TV)

Raghuram Rajan expresses concern over India’s economic slowdown VIEW HERE⤡ (As reported on 22nd February, 2022 ©India Today)

WHY ARE WE NOMINATING MRS. NIRMALA SITHARAMAN FOR THE IG NOBEL PRIZE IN ECONOMICS?

  1. She has carried forward her legacy and experiences of salesgirl when she was made the Finance Minister of India. She has sold or trying to sell almost all the government agencies or services (airways, railways, PSU Banks, Insurance Company etc.) to the favoured business tycoons, viz., Gautam Adani (Adani Group), Mukesh Ambani (Reliance Industries) and Ajay Piramal (Piramal Group), the last one being the secondary kin of Mr. Ambani. According to the ruling party BJP, the supremacy of the Indian National Congress’ (INC) dynasty-politics over approximately seventy years did nothing to the nation. The last statement was asserted by Ms. Kangana Ranaut, a renowned Bollywood actress as she said that India got its independence in 2014, when the BJP government came to power. Therefore, Mrs. Sitharaman is selling almost all the governmental properties out of nothing. This is the sale-bration of the Nirmalayan magic of the Indian economy, where something saleable has come out of nothingness! This type of existential crisis, i.e., encountering nothingness can only be found in the Upanisads : “Om Purnamadah Purnamidam Purnat Purnamudacyate. Purnasya Purnamadaya Purnamevavasisyate” (From this infinite comes that infinite, subtracting infinite from the infinite, the infinite remains as residue). In this way, thanks to Mrs. Sitharaman, crony and monopoly capitalism are reigning in the Indian nation-state (although she vehemently denied such allegation⤡ ⤡ ⤡ ⤡). So, the ruling party (not the government) is profiting (as evident from its astronomically increasing assets of the BJP) due to political charity of the three favoured business tycoons. This entire scenario makes us remember the famous short story of Stanisław Lem: HOW THE WORLD WAS SAVED⤡. In this narrative, Trurl the constructor put together a machine that could create anything starting with the letter ‘n’, e.g., nimbuses, noodles, nuclei, neutrons, naphtha, noses, nymphs, naiads etc. However, the endeavour of Trurl the constructor ended in a smoke when he tried to manufacture ‘nothingness’. Everything has become nothing within the ambit of mechanical reproduction of everything concrete.

  2. For this ideological standpoint of Mrs. Sitharaman, her home is divided. His husband, Mr. Parakala Prabhakar, is a staunch believer of the socialist economy. Mr. Prabhakar’s article, A Lodestar to Steer The Economy ⤡ (op cit) has created lots of hues and cries in the public sphere:

We do disagree with this point as circulated by the yellow journalistic media as:

(a) rational exchange of dialogue without manipulation (vada or conversazione for the sake of tatvajijnasa without being defeated or won) as it is mentioned in the nyaya darsana) is always to be encouraged in a free and just society—wherever the locus of the dialogue may be: state or miniature form of the state, i.e., monogamous heterosexual reproductive family;

(b) The ‘Love Lab’⤡ experiment cannot quantify the complex human relationship.

Mrs. Sitharaman reacted to the above accusations in the following manner:

This entails that the patriarchal socialist notion of the equivalence of the state and family (a miniature form of the state) has been nullified by this empowered woman’s strategy. Moreover, she is so powerful that the PM Narendra Modi (our nominee for Ig Nobel Peace Prize⤡) is bound to act as a middleman in different business deals.

  1. She attacked Mrs. Sonia Gandhi and Mrs. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra of the Indian National Congress for promoting nepotism in relation to Mrs. Sonia Gandhi’s infamous son-in-law Mr. Robert Vadra in the Indian political context. However, the opposition, i.e., Indian National Congress, refuted this allegation⤡ and enlisted the name of relatives who are enjoying powerful positions in the different governmental agencies under the BJP’s patronage. In this connection, Mrs. Sitharaman repudiated the allegation of the government’s crony capitalist politics, as alleged by the opposition:

  1. It has been alleged by the opponents that over the course of the consecutive tenures of two FMs, viz., late Arun Jaitley and N. Sitharaman, Indian rupee has significantly lost its value: Rupee falls 38 paise to all-time low of 82.68 against US dollar VIEW HERE ⤡ (As reported on 10th October, 2022 ©Business Today) ⤡. However, our Madam Finance Minister has called for a change of perspective over the matter: ‘I’d look at it not as rupee sliding, but as dollar strengthening,’ says Nirmala Sitharaman VIEW HERE ⤡ (As reported on 16th October, 2022 ©Scroll).

  2. It is to be noted that the Forex reserves of India have decreased from 642 billion dollars to 545 billion dollars. Conspiracy theorists alleged, by mocking Mrs. Sitharaman, that high inflation is due to this type of decreasing Forex reserves as well as import-export disparity. In August 2022, the import increased by 37% whereas the export dropped to 1.15%. Therefore, in terms of dollar, India imported 61.9 billion dollars worth of goods, including crude oil, whereas exported merely 33 billion dollar worth of goods. Thus, the trade deficit stands at 28 billion dollars. The government invested 96 billion dollars in the market to strengthen the rupee. What a legitimate step by the Hon’ble FM to combat inevitable inflation! This type of disparity is obviously affecting the purchasing power parity (PPP). However, the FM is actually challenging the hegemony of the US Dollar as a norm. Cong Leader Supriya Shrinate Mocks FM Sitharaman’s Clarification For Indian Rupee| BJP| US Dollar VIEW HERE ⤡ (As reported on 16th October, 2022 ©HW News)

  3. India’s external debt, at end-June 2022, was placed at US$ 617.1 billion⤡. It is worth complimenting that our Hon’ble FM has bothered to take such significant amounts of loan from the International Monetary Fund, World Bank and World Trade Organization in order to boost the developmental projects as part of India’s self-reliance (atmanirbharata) goal. Even so, the neo-imperialist debtor IMF consequently picturized the “sorry state of affairs” of the Indian economy– it is nothing but an attempt by a first world nation to demean and humiliate India’s image on the international spectrum.

IMF’s latest world economy report: Red flags for India VIEW HERE ⤡ (As reported on 13th October, 2022 ©Indian Express)

  1. In late Arun Jaitley and Nirmala Sitharaman’s tenures, a huge number of superrich wilful defaulters fled away from India with the ruling party’s support. This was done to enrich the Indian economy in the long run. Their loans have been justifiably either waived off or written off by the PSU (Public Sector Undertakings) Banks.

  1. When the Hon’ble FM was criticized by the opposition regarding the rising market prices of onions, she rightly stated: ‘I don’t eat onion’: FM Nirmala Sitharaman on skyrocketing onion prices VIEW HERE ⤡(As reported on 5th December, 2019 ©Business Today). This proves her excellent decolonized economic insight (peculiarly enough, onion is considered in many regions of India as a non-veg item!).

  2. Some reports have stated that India’s GDP has fallen to record lows under Madam FM’s leadership: First economic contraction in 4 decades: India’s GDP shrinks 23.9% in Q1, FY21 VIEW HERE ⤡ (As reported on 31st August, 2020 ©Business Standard). However, GDP cannot assess the shadow economy of India, where millions of transactions are underway without contributing to the quantitative economics. It is to be noted that Madam’s FM Party, viz., the BJP, has taken huge donations from the corporate through the doyens of the Shadow economy like Dawood Ibrahim and Late Iqbal Mirchi, which has led to the collapse of an AAA-rated NBFC, viz., the Dewan Housing Finance Corporation Limited (DHFL).

  1. Under Mrs. Sitharaman’s reign, abrupt bankruptcies have taken place under the purview of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Act (IBC), 2016 (introduced by late Arun Jaitley, which has be amended by the Finance Ministry for 34 times. It proves the flexibility of the Indian democracy and the efficiency of the legislature, where a bill can be passed or or an act can be repealed at ease without any debate or discussion). In actuality, these bankruptcies have undermined the corrupt, fraudulent deeds of politically disapproved business tycoons.

Though the conduct of the Committees of Creditors (CoCs) under the IBC was questioned by the Standing Committee of the Parliament and Madam FM agreed with that point and promised to scrutinize the issue further. Till date, she has not taken any step since the Queen of Economics or fiscal auditing is confident enough that the Queen can do no wrong.

IBC: Govt. working with RBI on CoC’s conduct VIEW HERE ⤡ (As reported on 27th August, 2021 ©The Hindu, PTI)

Nevertheless, she, with the help of her intimate financial administrators, viz., Shaktikanta Das (MA History and Governor of Reserve Bank of India, who has recently been weakened by four additional unofficial directors– what an oxymoron!)⤡, R. Subramaniakumar and Charu Sandeep Desai⤡ ⤡, is successful enough to handover an ongoing concern like the DHFL to Mr. Ajay Piramal, the secondary kin of India’s favoured business tycoon, Mr. Mukesh Ambani.

This is her grand achievement as a finance minister, though critical thinkers call this collusion of corporate and the state as the “gang of four”.

Instead of focusing on the negativity of the entire affair, one must highlight how the Madam FM’s party has amassed

astronomical quantities of assets simultaneously.

  1. During the p(l)andemic, the Goods and Services Tax or GST (The Opposition dubbed it as “The Gabbar Singh Tax” after a popular villain from a Bollywood movie) is being arbitrarily imposed with the rates of the tax always remaining in a flux and are not uniformly being fixed, i.e., it changes from time to time without following the enlightened rationality. This can be interpreted as a response pioneered by Mrs. Sitharaman to the enlightenment’s totalizing effect.

What four years of GST have taught us VIEW HERE ⤡ (As reported on 7th July, 2021 ©Livemint)

Considering the above profile of Mrs. Nirmala Sitharaman, we sincerely hope that our nomination will be accordingly entertained by the Board of Governors of the Ig Nobel Prize Committee. Please pardon us for writing way too much on our nominee since she has too many achievements that cannot be discussed properly in a precise manner.

Thanking you in anticipation,

Hypothetically Yours,

Dr. Debaprasad Bandyopadhyay

Mrs. Rupa Bandyopadhyay

Mr. Akhar Bandyopadhyay

The Ig Nobel Committee replied on 16/11/22:

We replied to the above reply on 19/11/2022:

Dear Marc, Thanks for your hastened reply. In India, one political party can buy another political party’s candidate by means of “horse trading”. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the current ruling party of India with huge assets, is performing such an act through the “Operation Lotus” (since Lotus is the party symbol of the BJP). In the Parliament, Mrs. Sitharaman once committed a Freudian slip, when she substituted the word “horse racing” with “horse trading”!

Hope that she will get the Ig Nobel prize in Economics, being the most suitable candidate from India.

Hypothetically Yours,

Debaprasad Bandyopadhyay

Rupa Bandyopadhyay

Akhar Bandyopadhyay

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