Positive sides of negative news – A hypocrisy

The morning was bizarrely calm and cold as the wind from north carrying the haze along with it, Arvind Kumar, a journalist handling a business column in a mediocre business magazine, hid beneath the warm and cozy fur blanket, thinking about a topic which he can write in the upcoming issue. While slowly getting up from the bed, not in hurry, he impulsively looked onto the front page of the newspaper, pushed in by the room boy through the little gap underneath the front door, threw it on the coffee table by discerning on the negativity that can pass on from it, as the medias now a days are full of negative news. As the medias, print and visual, are fuming with hatred, which can depress the readers, he decided to write something which is very positive. He believed, rather made him believed, that exposing the shiny side of any matter can create lot of positive energy among the readers.

He chose, the balcony room, overlooking the gorgeous countryside and highlands, which always had inspired him to think optimistically, to write the regular business column for the next edition of the magazine. He sprinted through the new legislations, which was passed by the parliament like “delivering the pizzas”, as Mr.Derek O’Brien sarcastically criticised, and tried to understand the positive impacts those laws can dump on common man. In a vast and huge country like India, an adobe of 16% of the World population, where democracy often dance in real spirits, controlled by high spirited- religiously or regionally- politicians, overpowered by bureaucrats, where nothing is easy, the passing a legislation itself is a victory. He tried, resting his arms on the easy chair, and found the positive sides of the said matter successfully.

By sipping the tea, he started reading the Code on wages, a consolidation of four labour laws, which is designed to ensure the minimum wages to all the employees across all the industries. He, after reading the entire legislation, could find only positives in that piece of legislation, by conveniently and consciously ignored the plight of the small and medium sized entrepreneurs who have to stretch and strain a lot more to find the funds for paying the minimum wages. He felt proud in his ability to see only the positives of the matter, by finishing the last drop of the tea, relaxed for a while, looking onto the scenic sceneries and dreaming about the salary hike he could fetch when the new legislation is in place.

He, then dived into the provisions of the Companies Amendment Act, a legislation which got continuously abused by bureaucrats through copious modifications, alterations, amendments, additions, deletions and what not, and felt relieved as the same is only applicable for petty bourgeoisie and corporates, when viewing from a positive angle. Delighted, at the same time satisfied, about the steps taken by the Government on the mandatory spending of a part of the profits of corporates for social projects, he purposefully snubbed the facts, the huge amount of taxes and other kind of spending by the Corporates in the form of provident fund, ESI, GST, CESS, levies etc, for the sake of maintaining the positivity. He tried to brush of the smile awakened in the corner of his lips, when he thought about the difficulties his stingy management will have face to churn out this extra money, as they are struggling even to meet the day to day operations. He, in order to maintain the positivity, recollected the benefits that may be passed on the society in the form of CSR funds and continued his positive writing.

The next, amendment to the Insolvency and bankruptcy code, had made him stand on his feet and mindfully bestowed a standing ovation to the will power of the Government to resolve the debts of a Corporate Debtor. Though, the so called Corporate Debtor is the dream child of an entrepreneur, who toiled his entire life on it, non repayment of its debt, for genuine reason or not, in timely manner will make him loose the control over that Company, failing of which even lead to liquidation, that too in lightning speed. After all, holding on to the ownership of a company is not a divine right and the unscrupulous promoters must have to step down from the control of such company, he felt really exhilarated. But on second thought, he remembered about the huge over draft loan availed by the company which he is working, now hanging like a Damocles sword due to default in repayment, which was taken to meet the salaries of the staff. He, then on positive front, decided to update his resume to apply for a fresh job, in case, if something happens to his company.

The next in the row was the Motor Vehicles Amendment Act, one which is directly affecting the common man. He tried, but failed miserably, to see the positive sides of imposing of huge fines and penalties for minor offences, decided to stop writing on that subject, for the sake of maintaining the positivity of the article.

After glancing through the article, which is very positive in all sense, he quickly took a shower in the ice-cold water, finished the idly and vada ordered through Swiggy, an app which he hates due to bad food-habit it inculcates among the people, then booked an Uber taxi, which he completely averse as it creates new age proletariats, and reached his office, though one hour late, to spread the positive side of his thoughts among his fellow colleagues.

Bijoy P Pulipra

[The author is an Insolvency Professional, Registered Valuer and Company Secretary and can be reached at bijoy@artismc.com ]