In his 1976 book The Selfish Gene, british evolutionary scientist richard Dawkins first used the word meme. "A noun that conveys the idea of a unit of cultural transmission," is how Dawkins described a meme in this book. Memes include things like songs, concepts, catchphrases, styles, and even methods for creating arches or pots.
Similar to how genes spread throughout the gene pool by moving from one body to another through sperm or eggs, memes spread throughout the meme pool by moving from one brain to another. He went on to write: "A scientist shares a good idea with his colleagues and pupils whether he hears it or reads about it. In both his lectures and papers, he refers to it. It might be claimed that the thought spreads from brain to brain if it becomes popular.
The definition of the phrase has changed somewhat in the almost 50 years after Dawkins coined it, particularly about memes posted on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and X. A well-known meme maker, Saint Hoax, is quoted by The New York Times in a february 2022 article as defining a meme as "a piece of media that is repurposed to deliver a cultural, social, or political expression, mainly through humor." In this way, it's a hilarious and visual piece that can be shared on social media and encapsulates the dominant zeitgeist, which is the defining spirit or mood of a certain group of people at a particular moment.
First, it appears that people of all political persuasions, even those who strongly support prime minister Narendra Modi and the BJP-led national democratic alliancegovernment, view the finance minister as the antagonist of the story. These individuals are commonly known as bhakts.
Second, the incapacity or unwillingness of these bhakts and others to comprehend that the government as a whole, not just the finance minister, ultimately decides whether to impose a new tax or continue with the current set of taxes that the taxpayers believe are excessive. Additionally, the parliament has the last say over any additional taxes included in the budget through the yearly finance bill. Therefore, anyone who just blames the finance minister for what they perceive to be excessive taxes is nothing more than a useful idiot.
Third, although a finance minister may propose new ideas, the prime minister and the prime minister's office must approve particular suggestions, just like they must approve any new tax. I'll give you an example to illustrate this. The 1991 economic changes that opened up the indian economy are generally attributed to Dr. manmohan Singh. At the time, Dr. Singh served as the finance minister in the narasimha Rao administration. Now, since the PM's political capital was ultimately on the line, Dr. Singh could not have done anything without the express backing of prime ministernarasimha Rao. To restate, governments, not simply ministers, make the final choices.
Fourth, it's critical to comprehend how we got here. The central government's overall spending has increased over time. During 2018–19, it accounted for 12.25 percent of GDP. A measure of an economy's size is its GDP. In 2023–2024, it accounted for 15.2 percent of GDP. The government had to spend more money to maintain the economy in the post-pandemic environment. The government must collect more taxes to fund its increased spending.
The government lowered business tax rates in september 2019 to encourage investment and spending. The corporation tax, often known as the income tax paid by businesses, was 3.51 percent of GDP in 2018–19. company tax revenues decreased to 3.12% of GDP in 2023–2024, even though company expenditure has remained weak.
Despite this, business earnings increased due to several factors, including a reduced corporation tax rate, cheaper interest rates, increased government investment, a more formalized economy, and post-pandemic revenge consumption by wealthy individuals. Therefore, the company tax collected decreased while government spending increased. Higher personal income tax receipts, which increased from 2.44 percent of GDP in 2018–19 to 3.35 percent in 2023–24, somewhat offset this. Higher-income tax surcharges (later lowered), the implementation of novel taxes on previously untaxed incomes, higher tax rates on incomes that were given preferential treatment, and more stock market activity were the main causes of these increases in collections.
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