Biju Patnaik Airport at Bhubaneswar got recognition from Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) as an international airport on 30 October 2013. Later, from 26 April 2017 it started receiving international flights that commenced from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Then Bangkok got direct connection from 10 December 2017. Lately however, the Bhubaneswar international airport has been gaining in notoriety. In the past three months, a total of 21 gold seizure incidents have been reported with a total of 20 kg of gold being recovered. This, of course, is a small quantity compared with the number of incidents. On one hand, if 21 incidents are reported in 90 days, it may be assumed the rest 69 days have been good hauls for the smugglers. On the other hand, the troubling aspect is that these puny catches are probably diversionary in nature or ruses for much bigger quantities to slip through. With the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) and the Customs staff getting willingly embroiled in the aftermath of a seizure, the big fishes must be able to walk through without hindrance. Taking the obvious route that concludes in corruption, it is easy to claim that the Intelligence and Customs officers on duty are hand in glove with the crooks. While the staff at Bhubaneswar is either untrained or put here as punishment posting, both conditions buttress the desire for quick money. These catches are therefore of extremely small value and may be considered as the tip of the ‘Goldberg’. All that corruption and connivance angle may only be a fraction of the larger problem. It is a necessity now that economists and sociologists in India undertake a thorough study to fathom the reasons behind the national resurgence of love for the yellow metal. It is also known that the shine of gold had dimmed for the common Indian because of constant fluctuations in price. Those who did not have the holding capacity to wait for better times, preferred to opt out of gold for other avenues.
It is also commonly acknowledged that ‘dead’ investments, such as in the yellow metal, certainly damages the mobility of wealth, thereby harming any nation’s economy. While the average Indians were just emerging from the historic attraction for gold and investing in real estate, shares and even infrastructure, came the 8 November 2016 Demonetisation announcement. The surprise move, with one single deadly stroke, completely demolished confidence on the Indian paper currency. Parallel to this shock came another blow. The government’s interference with banks’ administration convinced people that, in reality, the situation did not allow them to access their own hard-earned, tax-paid money when they needed it most. This deprivation created a quiet scare that crushed the faith on the banking system also. Thereafter, real estate and other investments went for a toss. The scary monster of non-performing assets (NPAs) and the way banks were unwilling to accept their own gross misdemeanors got people exasperated. After an initial lull, and keeping the gold seizures at Bhubaneswar international airport in mind, it may safely be presumed that gold is back in great business and shining brighter than ever. The recent grave tinkering with the natural growth of the Indian economy has created a malady that the Indians may have to suffer for a long time in the future.
