After almost three weeks of demonetisation, there is visible pain in the lives of ordinary people, a noticeable slowdown in economic activity, and reports of job losses in many sectors. The economy may contract by as much as two percentage points over the next two quarters — a colossal loss in national wealth. However, there can be no rollback. The gains from a cleaner, whiter economy are far bigger in the long run. Here’s how Narendra Modi can save demonetisation.

Indians have a saying that captures the tendency of family businesses to decline over generations: “The life of a business house is 60 years.” This phenomenon was portrayed by the German writer Thomas Mann in Buddenbrooks, his novel about a wealthy merchant family in the city of Lübeck whose business disintegrates as the children lose an appetite for making money. Until now, the 148-year-old Tata Group has defied this rule.

The terrorist killing of sleeping soldiers at Uri on September 18 revolted me. It reminded me of Ashvatthama’s night-time massacre of the sleeping Pandava armies, which turned the mood of the Mahabharata from heroic triumphalism to dark, stoic resignation. Soldiers are ready to give their lives in battle but they don’t expect to die while asleep in peacetime. For ten days I felt uneasy and angry. On September 29, India retaliated with surgical strikes against terrorist camps across the border in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

कुछ माह पहले मैं दिल्ली में एक आयोजन में गया था, जिसमें नफासत से वस्त्र पहने, वक्तृत्व में माहिर भारतीय और कुछ विदेशी मौजूद थे। वहां एक अलग से युवा ने प्रवेश किया। किसी ने पहचाना कि यह तो किसी हिंदी टेलीविजन से है। ऐसा लगा कि वह वहां ज्यादातर उपेक्षित ही रह गया, जब तक कि किसी ने उसे उकसा नहीं दिया। उसके बाद तो जेएनयू विवाद पर ऊंची आवाज में कर्कश बहस छिड़ गई। उसने हिंदू राष्ट्रवादी रुख का बहुत भावावेश के साथ बचाव किया, लेकिन उसे जल्दी ही शोर मचाकर चुप कर दिया गया। खुद को अपमानित महसूस कर वह जल्दी ही वहां से चला गया। उसके जाते ही ‘धर्मनिरपेक्ष-उदारवादियों’ ने राह