There is a screenshot doing the rounds on social media. A food delivery order. A break-up of charges. And buried somewhere between the restaurant GST and the platform fee sits a quietly audacious little line item — Rain Fee INR 25.00. And then, because apparently the universe has a sense of humour, right below it — GST on Rain Fee: INR 4.50.

Let that sink in for a moment. We are now paying tax on weather. This is a watershed moment — not because of the INR 4.50, which is frankly the least of our worries — but because of what it represents. The complete and creative normalisation of extracting money from the paying class for absolutely everything, including the sky deciding to do what the sky has done for four billion........

© The Pioneer