in if people have to sell their organs to survive? but while a ban on organ sales may make us feel better, does it really make society better off? possibly, if it makes society work harder to make sure people are never driven to the circumstances that would make them contemplate a sale. possibly not, if it allows society to turn its back on the underlying problem, either moving the trade underground, or forcing people in dire circumstances to resort to worse remedies. but i also think part of our unease has to do with what we perceive as an unequal exchange. the seller is giving up part of her body in an irreversible transaction. the buyer is giving up only money – perhaps earned on a lucky stock trade or through an overpaid job. if that money was earned by selling a portion of a lung, or by painful savings accumulated after years of backbreaking work, we might consider the exchange more equal. but the central virtue of money is precisely its anonymity. we need know nothing about the rupee we get to be able to use it. but because money ’ s anonymity obscures its provenance, it may be socially less acceptable as a medium of payment for some objects. professor sandel makes us think. but he seems to move too quickly to prescribe banning monetary transactions, when his real concern is perhaps with the unfair distribution of money. what he also seems to ignore are the virtues of anonymity. in a free market, all it takes to buy what you want is money. you do not need a pedigree, a great family history, the right table manners, or the right fashionable clothing or looks. it is because money has no odour, because it is the great equalizer, that so many people across history have been able to acquire resources and invested them to make the world we live in. indeed, making it easy for dalits to start businesses may do more for their social status because money empowers than many other forms of affirmative action. rather than prohibiting the use of money and wealth, let us think about increasing society ’ s tolerance for its use. what can you take away from all this? first, that it helps to question everything, including my interpretation of sandel, for only with questioning comes clarity. second, if you believe my interpretation, there is a strong link between society ’ s support for free markets and the fairness with which wealth and opportunity is distributed among

available with such entities / persons to reduce credit risk and transaction cost. even if post offices and post men are not used for actual delivery of services, they can be used for the invaluable information and data they possess for direct marketing. there are a number of such organizations and delivery channels - including retired bankers and school teachers - who can be used for such credit enhancements in the form of reliable information. in fact use of technology is critical in building up a reliable credit information system, build up data base on customers for a variety of purposes, thereby reducing the transaction cost involved in checking encumbrances and collaterals and also facilitating better pricing of risk. a south african it initiative worth emulating is the ‘ mzansi ’ account. this account, a national no frills bank account ( nba ) product that caters to the needs of the un - banked population of south africa was established to use existing distribution networks of banks, government and other bodies. it was envisaged that nba will attract 4 million potential customers over period of 5 years. in its first year of operation itself, it garnered nearly two million accounts. salient features of the mzansi account are : • the product is card based and launched at a very affordable price • it is first of two'first order savings / transmission products'aimed at extending penetration of banks into first order markets. • access to the nba product is provided through a combination of existing service point outlets & physical branch outlets including own and shared atms, post offices, and merchant pos devices. there is a money transfer service associated with the mzansi account which makes it possible to transfer money between un - banked / banked customers from any participating bank or south africa post office. all banks in south africa are participants in this unique venture. as it is a very technology intensive product, the transaction costs are very low and thus, what were thought to be as'too costly to serve areas and people'have became attractive propositions. state governments such as in andhra pradesh are actively looking at making pension payments as also disbursals under regp through use of smart cards linked to bank accounts. the same card could be used for social security programs as also banking transactions and can act as a unique identifier card. all relevant details relating to the person can be stored on the card with bio - metric identification. experiments are under way for low costs atms with biometric identification for withdrawal of