Drumming Taxes Out of Defaulters

Any person visiting India is most likely to be struck by the size of the country on its own in addition to the stark contrasts among its people, lifestyles and cities. For instance, one often reads about the rising giant's high-tech centers in Bangalore and the huge middle class that amounts to nearly 200 million people living close to an even larger indigent population. In that respect, if the middle class population on its own were to be sliced away, India would qualify as a middle-income country.

An article in the Hindustan Times today illustrates another part of that contrast that is India. It reports the story of the Guntur Municipal Corporation which has chosen to hire drum beaters to shame property tax defaulters. Arriving at the addresses of the defaulters, the sound of drums serve to alert neighbors of the failure of the individuals who appear to pay to avoid both the shame and nuisance that is definitely caused. Who would argue with the approach when the officials claim that it has proved successful?

To my mind, this approach is further illustrative of the fascinating things about India. One is that the creativity applied in private and public affairs is very visible and the second being that labor is pretty cheap because it is still cost-effective to hire drummers and pay them off the cost of the recovered sums. Just amazing!