The demonetising of currency notes of Rs 1000 and Rs 500 was badly planned and implemented by the Narendra Modi government. The intentions of Prime Minister Modi may be good, but whose black money are we talking about? Has any minister, Member of Parliament, MLA or business tycoon been seen standing in queues outside banks and ATMs for hours together to exchange currency notes or to deposit them? The people who are standing outside banks and ATMs in the heat of the sun from dawn till dusk are the taxpayers and the daily wage workers. It was also in bad taste to show Modi’s mother exchanging currency notes just to gain public sympathy. In India, there are millions of senior citizens who cannot even walk or stand but yet they keep standing in long queues outside banks and ATMs to exchange, withdraw or deposit money. The Reserve Bank of India should have ensured that the size of the new currency notes are the same as the old ones so that the same slots could be used in ATMs for stocking and dispensing the new notes. And if Modi thinks he has choked out anti-social elements, it may be true. But this is only a temporary phenomenon. It was important to block the sources of counterfeit currency and not the circulation of it.
Jubel D’Cruz
(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)
