Until a couple of weeks ago, few had heard about Anil Bokil or the socioeconomic thinktank he founded, the Arthakranti Pratishthan . On the street, he would not even have invited a fleeting glance.This changed after the evening of November 8, when Prime Minister Modi announced his plans to “demonetise” Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes. Arthakranti Pratishthan has been credited with sowing the seeds of “demonetisation” in the minds of the Prime Minister and his economic advisors. Bokil is now a celebrity.On Saturday, as Bokil and his accomplices – Ashutosh Phalke and Amod Phalke – locked the office of Arthakranti Pratishthan on Paud Road in Western Pune and headed for a late lunch, people who had queued up in front of the SBI ATM craned their necks to catch a glimpse of Bokil. Some looked in sheer admiration, others simply nodded coldly.Today, the mere mention of Bokil or the Pratishthan sparks off heated debates on the merits and demerits of the demonetisation move. There is a growing buzz that the other proposals of the thinktank are finding their way into the next Union Budget. But the man of the hour is not satisfied with the way the “demonetisation” has taken off. “This is not what we proposed,” says the 52-year-old Bokil, as he dipped a piece of bhakri roti in pithla (a thick curry made of gram flour) and spicy green chutney. “The government has only taken one part of our five-point plan… We had a proper transition plan from large currency denominations to smaller ones,” laments Bokil.As several experts have pointed out, Bokil also does not agree that this was demonetisation. “The government has only replaced large denomination currencies with even more larger notes.” What Arthakranti Pratishthan proposed was to “positively change” India’s socio-economic scenario by restructuring tax policies, limiting the use of hard cash, making capital and credit cheaper and reducing the flow of black money in the system. Supporters say the proposals are practical, bereft of complex economic theories, models or mathematical equations. But skeptics call Arthakrantis unworldly and utopian.PM Modi, it seems, is not among the skeptics though. Bokil and his volunteers met Modi in July 2013 when he was Chief Minister of Gujarat. The meeting, scheduled for ten minutes, extended to over 90 minutes. Modi, according to Arthakrantis, was impressed with idea of revamping the existing tax system and replacing it with one overarching banking transaction tax (BTT). Indeed, Modi had alluded to BTT in his election rallies two years ago.But the withdrawal of high-value currencies is only the third step in the Arthakranti plan. ‘Compression of currencies’ (denomination withdrawal) should have followed the withdrawal of all central government taxes like personal income tax, central excise and service tax and circulation of additional Rs 500 notes in the system (to temporarily replace the withdrawn Rs 1000 notes) so that people did not face an acute shortage of money.Millions of people have scrambled to banks for Rs 100 notes or new denominations of Rs 500 and Rs 2,000 after the sudden ban on Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes. Serpentine queues form every day at banks across the country trying to change the old large denomination notes.Bokil says it will take time for return to normalcy. “The Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currencies account for close to 85% of notes in circulation… If you ban the entire lot in one go, how you will manage the flow of currencies?” quips Bokil. According to Bokil, the government is now driving on a GPRS system. “They’ve lost the transition plot completely. They should’ve stuck to our transition plan at least.”Countering the government’s argument, the Arthakrantis say the banning of old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes would do little to curb the incidence of black money. They see the demonetisation drive as only a means to cut the flow of counterfeit notes in the system. “It could be matters relating to national security that forced the government to take such a snappy step. If that’s the case, we heartily welcome this move,” Bokil adds.The home base of Arthakranti Pratishthan happens to be Kothrud, the high-seat of Puneri Peshwas, the powerful prime ministers of the Maratha Empire. It was here in 1999-2000 that Bokil, a mechanical engineer, and his friends floated the idea of setting up a socio-economic thinktank.Bokil was starting afresh, after a successful mission of setting up ‘Tiny Industrial Co-operative Society’ at Chikalthana in Aurangabad, which provided employment to skilled workmen evicted from companies in nearby districts following the 1996-97 recession. The Pratishthan members – some trained in economics and others from varied educational backgrounds – researched various economic models for the next few years. By 2005, this group had managed to hammer out an economic model – light on taxes, with focus on reducing incidence of black money.The first mandate of the Arthakranti plan is to repeal all existing taxes, with the exception of customs and import duties which act as international trade balancers. The country should have only one tax, levied only on banking transactions. The banking transaction tax, or BTT, according to Arthakrantis, would fill up the government coffers much more than current tax system.“The direct and indirect taxes are declaratory in nature and they encourage tax evasion. BTT – levied on receiving and credit accounts only, at one source – would collect more money for the government than the current taxation system,” explains Ashutosh Phalke, a masters-degree holder in Economics and long-time volunteer of the Pratishthan.Phalke works out the math: Combined tax revenue of all local bodies, states and central government for 2015-16 is around Rs 21 lakh crore. If current taxes are replaced with 2% BTT (on average monthly banking transaction volume of Rs 1,20,00,000 crore), net tax collected could be an astronomical sum of money.“Tax revenue is assured if BTT is implemented. Also, BTT is levied progressively; so a person doing higher value transaction would pay higher amount of taxes… Tax revenues collected thus could be shared amongst Central and State governments, local bodies and even the banks,” Phalke clarifies.According to Bokil, BTT will expand the tax base exponentially. This is (tax base expansion) is not possible in the current tax regime as over 60% of India’s population live below the international poverty line of $1.9 a day, he adds.After withdrawing existing taxes and imposing BTT, the government must withdraw all high denomination currency (above Rs 50) in phases. The entire transition to smaller currencies would take place over 18 months. The Modi government has picked this part (of “currency denomination compression”) in isolation, and is hoping to set things right in barely two months.Several economists, whom ET consulted prior to meeting the Arthakrantis, felt withdrawing larger currencies would make the rupee “unwieldy” for payments. That apart India is predominantly a “cash economy”, with large sections of the population having no access to formal banking system.Bokil disagrees. “It is for this people – the unbanked rural poor – we’re advising the government to retain currency notes up to Rs 50. A few notes of Rs 50 in every individual’s pocket would take care of their daily needs… These poor rural-folks have no use of Rs 500 and Rs 2,000 notes,” he says.According to Arthakrantis, banking will touch the “rural last-mile” only when ‘standard of living’ improves in these regions and people begin to earn and save more. And that is possible only when government plugs “resource leakages” and allocate more money to schemes for the poor.Arthakrantis mandate the use of bank accounts for all high-value monetary transactions. The fifth brief actually advises the government to make legal provisions to restrict cash transactions up to Rs 2,000 only. “There should not be any legal recourse for cash dealings above Rs 2,000,” Phalke clarifies.The five-point plan, according to Arthakrantis, would drastically reduce the tax outgo of common citizens as they will have to pay tax only on their banking transactions. Taxpayers need not be subjected to other direct or indirect taxes if BTT is implemented in its true form, they say.The Pratishthan also counts increased transparency, lower interest rates and freeing up of capital (via capitalisation of banks and higher tax collection), reduction in commodity prices (generally thrust up by middlemen using unaccounted money) and limiting the occurrence of black money as other benefits of its fivepoint plan.The Pratishthan’s rented 2-BHK office (in a residential building on Paud Road) also doubles up as the living quarters of volunteers and of Bokil when he’s in Pune. “We’re almost cashless in our existence,” says Bokil.Bokil, who hails from Latur, doesn’t hesitate to state that he gets Rs 3,500 every month from his mother (a retired primary school teacher) for his personal upkeep. Several of his volunteers — like Ashutosh and Amod –have full-time jobs. Amod is an engineering graduate from IIT-Mumbai.“All our people work on a voluntary basis… Sometimes we do receive contribution from people who support our cause. We also get money selling our publications and research papers… That said, we don’t need a lot of money to carry on our work,” Bokil adds.Arthakrantis also claim to not have any political or religious affiliations. The organisation’s saffron masthead only signifies the top portion of the Indian Tricolour, they say. “We’re only concerned with artha (system of finance and economy), not dharma (religion or morality),” says Phalke.Bokil draws a lot of inspiration from Islam too. Arthakranti is the closest to Islamic Banking, which prohibits widespread use of interest, he adds.“The best thing about Islam is that it does not take credit for anything good that has happened. Everything is Inshalla (if Allah wills it) in Islam… We’d also like to take no credit for our good work; it’s Inshalla for us too,” sums up Bokil, as he prepares for another round of volunteer meetings.