It’s Time for Dhan Vapasi

India is rich, but Indians are poor. It’s time to change that.

Every Indian family has a share of ₹ 50 lakh in the public wealth of India. It’s time for Dhan Vapasi – the return of ₹ 1 lakh to every family every year so we can forever address the hamesha problems of poverty, unemployment and corruption.

This is a bold idea. I will explain what public wealth is, why we should get it back and how we can together make it happen.

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I am Rajesh Jain I am not a politician. I am a problem solver, an entrepreneur. For 25 years, I have solved problems for millions in the world of technology.

In the late 1990s, I set up India’s first internet portals to bridge the information gap for Indians worldwide. Some of you who are older may remember the websites – Samachar.com, Khoj.com, Khel.com and Bawarchi.com. Now, my company helps brands build deep connections with their customers.

It was in 2008 that the direction of my life changed – I got a Nayi Disha. It came because of a question a friend asked me, “Rajesh, when your 3-year-old son grows up and asks you – ‘Papa, you saw all that was going wrong in India. You had the time and the money. Why didn’t you do something about it?’– what will you answer him?” This question started me on a new journey.

My solution was to see how to use politics to transform India. Along with a few others, I set up Friends of BJP in 2009, just before the Lok Sabha elections.

In 2011, I wrote a public blog post outlining how the BJP could win a Lok Sabha majority on its own in the next elections. In 2012, I set up with my own funds a team of 100 people in media, data, analytics and volunteering work for Narendra Modi’s election campaign. In the 2014 elections, the BJP got a majority on its own and Modi became India’s Prime Minister.

It was later that I realised that even as rulers change, if the rules remain the same, outcomes will not change. For 71 years, 20 governments and 3 generations of Indian, politicians have stood before us giving solutions for poverty, unemployment and corruption. But little changed. These hamesha problems are still there with us. What India needed was a Nayi Disha, a new direction. It was from this thinking that was born the idea of Dhan Vapasi.

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Let’s get back to our questions. Where is our dhan? What is the public wealth of India? This is wealth that is in the public lands, the mineral deposits and the public sector corporations and their assets. We are all shareholders in this wealth. This wealth is not in foreign banks, it is in India – around us. It is not black money, it’s our money. And how much is this wealth? ₹ 1500 lakh crore. That is 15 followed by 14 zeroes. This comes to ₹ 50 lakh for every family in India.

India is rich, yet Indians have been kept poor. The average Indian family earns just over ₹ 1 lakh a year – less than ₹ 10,000 per month for a family of five. They save very little, if it all. And that’s what we have to change. That’s why we need our wealth back.

This wealth is under the control of the politicians and bureaucrats. They have stolen our wealth – just like the British rulers did before them. Just look at the luxury in which they live. They have palatial homes, travel in comfort and have massive security – all paid for by our taxes.

The chowkidars have become zameendars.

It is time to stop this theft. It is time to demand our wealth back.

Getting this wealth back means we can choose how to spend it for our family.

What we spend becomes income for the sellers. When we spend on food, it is income for the farmers. When we spend on other goods and services, it helps boost employment and creates jobs. When discretion in political and bureaucratic decision-making in who gets the benefits of various schemes is eliminated, we can end corruption.

Dhan Vapasi is that practical solution which will eliminate the triple evils of poverty, unemployment and corruption. Dhan Vapasi is the universal prosperity revolution that will fulfil the vision the creators of our Constitution had for all Indians – to secure to all citizens freedom, equality and prosperity. Dhan Vapasi is the real freedom to live life on our own terms – without the government as our master, with fellow Indians as partners in progress. Dhan Vapasi is about fairness and justice. Dhan Vapasi is the right of every Indian.

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So, how can we get our wealth back? How do we make Dhan Vapasi happen? The politicians and bureaucrats are not going to give our wealth back. Not only have they not told us about this wealth, they still keep stealing from us. Dhan Vapasi will need another freedom movement – to free our wealth from the control of the politicians and bureaucrats.

The first step is to show our strength in numbers. Only when we are many and together can we make Dhan Vapasi happen. Only when we are prepared to use the power of our voice and vote can we force the politicians and bureaucrats to act.

To show our numbers, we have launched a petition at DhanVapasi.com that calls upon Parliament to return ₹ 1 lakh to every family every year. I urge you to sign it.

This is the starting point. My team is preparing the Dhan Vapasi Bill which will be sent to every MP so they can read it, discuss it, debate it and then pass it. But they will not do so until they hear our loud voice and feel the power of our united vote.

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Prosperity is our birthright, and we shall – we must – have it.

A few years from now, when near and dear ones ask us,. “What did you for India?”. , you can look them in the eye and answer, “I made Dhan Vapasi happen. I made us and every Indian rich.”.

Friends, it’s time to act. It’s our turn now.

Sign the petition at DhanVapasi.com and get your family and friends to do it.

Let’s act today for a better tomorrow.

Jai Hind.

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