today we are going to discuss in brief
about the Angadia system this topic is
important from the perspective of
prelims and also from the perspective of
gs mains paper 3. let’s know all about
the system and before that i would like
to tell you about why we are discussing
it
so Mumbai police has registered cases
against
three policemen
from Mumbai police itself because they
were extorting and robbing the angadias
this was done so because of a complaint
that was filed by the angadia
association of bhuleshwar and they have
been registered under ipc
392
that is robbery
384
that is
extortion
341
that is wrongful
restraint and 34 that is common interest
so it has been registered against very
important
category of policemen and that is
against angaryas what are
where have they originated from we will
discuss all about that
so basically angadia word it means
courier okay for starters we can
understand it is a courier service it is
used for career service and it is a
hundred year old service or a parallel
banking system we can also say it moving
it is moving in india since the colonial
era it originated in the katyawad region
of gujarat
and
now we see that
important regions where businessmen
rich businessmen who trade in diamonds
there we can find the angadia
specifically in surat of gujarat
and the zaveri bazaar of mumbai so
specifically if we talk about diamond
merchandise and diamond business they
do have the system of angadias so this
is basically an unofficial banking and
career service a person
who is
transferring
the amount
from one place to another is known as an
angadia and they do have associations
as this system is going on since such a
long time they have their own system
like in history we study about the
guilds right guilds of parties and
similarly they have their own guilds and
they basically the people who are
included in the business are basically
from gujarati
or mulberry community okay moving on if
we talk about the procedures how do they
work
now traders can send cash
generally from one state to another with
the help of anguardias and this person
who is basically transferring the cash
in physical form is known as the angadia
and
jewelry business
is very prominent when it comes to
transferring of cash and basically you
have to understand not only cash
but they can also they might also be
carrying diamonds with them
and very importantly the route is fixed
they can have a fixed route
they have the entire system handy when
it comes to knowing about the timing of
the train when which train will pass
through which region so that they can
reserve their seats in the train or
through the roads they can reserve a
time
which is not very crowded which is not
very suspicious suspicious in the sense
they do want to save themselves from
robbery so in such cases they choose a
route which is much more safer and it is
generally known and they charge a
nominal fee for
actually
sending the amount in bank system
banking system crores of and crores of
rupees if they go through the digital
banking system the formal banking system
it might appear it might be that the
charges of transferring the amount is
very high that is not the case with
anguardia’s and that is why it is much
more lucrative to the traders and we
have to understand that this system
cannot be banned in the sense that
if it is going once in such a long
period of time it needs to be regulated
right so keep all these things in mind
also they work through a particular
coding system they might use certain
words like joking
or
any word joking is a word mainly it can
be used for transfer of cash
or
zever can also be used for the jewelry
so they work on such codes which are
used in common parlance in their own
association of uh angadias but not known
to other people and it can happen that
suppose trader a and trader b
this person is in gujarat
and this person is in mumbai
so
a is sending two crore rupees to b
through an anguardia now the angarya
will be told will be given a 10 rupee
note
okay
he will be or she will be given a 10
rupee note and the currency number on
this 10 rupee note will be told to
trader b
now when this angadia x
will
take the money to trader b
and
they both will match the currency number
which was told to be by trader a then
only the handing over of the money will
happen this is the generic system they
work upon and this is completely on
trust
many traders have their own anguardia
since such a long period of time
and they completely do this business on
trust and they as i told you they have
fixed routes and trains sometimes they
can also reserve 30 to 50 percent of the
local trains if they are going from one
city to another city in one state or
from one state to another state they
might be doing so that they reserve the
seats that
are surrounding their seat and because
in order to save themselves from any
sort of suspicion of robbery they try to
stay awake at night as well and they
might also do something like they take
sleep by turns and now they are also
getting security guards which they
which are privately hired so this is the
level of
system they have evolved let’s move
forward and talk about
what is the trail with respect to the
hungarian system now now delivery of
cash and diamonds takes place on a daily
basis that means this system is very
prevalent in regions of gujarat and
mumbai about 70 percent seats and two
coaches of gujarat made are booked by
angadias as i told you now these guardia
agents prefer to travel in groups for
security surat sati alone has more than
16 guardia firms so surat ahmedabad and
mumbai zaveri bazar these are
of course dealing in merchandise of
diamonds so
these are the hot spots post lockdown
supply of diamonds and jewelry in mumbai
has reduced to 35 because what do they
do they carry the things in physical
sense so because of no contact and
because of lockdown also they have also
suffered a lot okay
let’s see this very important thing
about 90 percent of valuable goods from
surat was transported from surah to
mumbai through gujarat main after
lockdown its operation has remained
suspended this is a post sorry it’s a
past
image i have attached but just to make
you understand the gravity of the
situation that what amount of valuable
goods
move within one
state one
city to another city this is the gravity
of the situation with respect to the
hungarian system and if we talk about
because this is an informal system
we are not resorting the traders are not
resorting to transfer of money through
the regular banking the formal banking
system risks are there but as i told you
they were completely on trust so formal
banks
they includes banks and co-operatives
and if we talk about it is not exactly
related to hungarians but
i am talking about informal banking
system which consists of money lenders
traders employers and
friends and relatives
now
this point is not at all
relevant with respect to anguardia so we
will not read that
foreigners if we transfer um the amount
of money in kerose which is in corers
the
fee charged by the banks might be
exorbitant but if we talk about
the angadias it might not be as much as
the banking system former banking system
charges apart for from profit making the
regular banking system formal banking
system also works towards social welfare
which is not the case with angadia’s
okay so supervising body if we talk
about there is not any per se
supervisory body because
the
system is legal per se but they do not
have any supervising body like
governmental body like we have the rbi
or cb okay so that increases the risks
of any uncertainty that is happening in
happening in the anguardia system
first thing is hawala
the biggest issue
now these policemen
why did they extort or rob money from
the guardians because there is a
suspicion with respect to they might be
transferring the amount which is black
money that is why it is not going
through the formal banking system
so it’s okay to rob from a thief this is
this was their mindset so it has been
frowned upon actually that if money is
not going through the formal banking
system if it is being carried by the
young guardians it can be because that
money is not accounted for in the system
the governmental financial system then
this is black money the first thing is
that there is not any sort of concrete
regulation apart from their own guilds
they do not have
handbook to work by they do not have any
regulatory authority in case of
accountability has to be pinned as a
guardian system works on trust criminal
activities might also become very
rampant within the anguardia system it
might happen
that they might uh as i told you hawala
system can become very
handy with respect to to employing
angadias another thing because
the angadias they this profession goes
on for a long period of time and as i
told you they have fixed roots they have
fixed of
what you call it a system which is known
to their previous employers as well so
if any previous employer gets a hold of
any information or intelligence with
respect to one guardians working it
might happen that they can
victimize the young guardians by robbing
them similarly goes with the policeman
they might be aware in order to protect
them they might be aware that they are
going through this route but they did
not
exercise caution and they resorted to
robbing them okay let’s move forward and
talk about what can be done
in order to save such incidences
prohibiting such incidences from
happening saving angaryas first of all
the government should
try to keep a track
of angadia system
and mostly
the guardian system
if the angadia association of volatile
did lodge a complaint it was but evident
that they were doing their job
they actually have to do the job they
are not concerned if that is black money
or its white money they are doing their
job but through these incidents the
government might keep a track on
what is actually happening in the
country why the huge amount is being
bypassed so the government should come
out with a plan with respect to
making an effort so that the money gets
transferred between the traders at a
faster pace because hungarians they
transfer money maybe within 24 hours as
well
so
what happens that the money shouldn’t
get stuck so that their trading can go
on and
maybe for diamond merchants transfer
fees can also be reduced to a minimum so
that they do not have to resort to such
system but one thing keep in mind that
whenever we
ban suppose we are trying to make
the anguardias
subsidiary to the formal banking system
what about their profession their
profession they are getting unemployed
as well so checks and balances should be
there a regulatory body would do great
for hungarians although they are found
in a very localized spaces in gujarat
and mumbai
and maharashtra regions other regions as
well but an association our regulatory
body would do great in order to pin
accountability also
there should be system made
by the guilds themselves for better
security
right so that would help a lot let’s
move on and talk about our means
question
what is the hungarian system discuss the
benefits and the issues related to this
system in 150 words ?