Nowadays people are discussing about the hardships faced by them after demonetisation. Even opposition parties had asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to clarify his stand on notes ban. The common man has to bear the brunt of demonetisation as he has to stand in long queue outside banks for depositing or withdrawing his hard earned money. Even people are queuing outside ATMs for withdrawing money. Some of them are even using two to three cards for withdrawing money. ATMs too are running dry of cash due to massive withdrawals by people. Demonetization has a direct impact on sectors dealing with cash—vendors, auto rickshawwallahs, taxi drivers, daily wage earners and small traders.
The Modi government has urged people to opt for cashless transactions. However, the nation is yet not ready for cashless economy as more than 80 per cent of transactions are being done through cash. India lacks the necessary infrastructure to handle huge volume of online transactions. Lack of internet penetration is another issue which will pose a major hurdle when the nation is trying to shift towards cashless economy. Today the common man is unaware about how to use debit cards, net banking and mobile wallets then how will he shift towards digital transactions. The government should have first created awareness among people about online transactions and then gone ahead with the demonetisation drive. Earlier people had lauded the Modi government’s note ban campaign saying that it will unearth black money. However, their opinion has changed now after facing hardships to withdraw their money from banks and ATMs.
Even touts are purchasing demonetised notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 and allowing black money holders to convert their money into white for a commission. After demonetisation there has been a surge in deposit in Jan Dhan accounts. Many people are using these accounts to park their black money. The government is keeping an eye on the amounts being deposited in these accounts. In order to avert the misuse of Jan Dhan accounts RBI has capped the withdrawal from these accounts to Rs 10,000 per month.
A person can pay by card or cash only when he works and earns money. India needs to produce goods which are of better quality and cheaper as compared to those manufactured by foreign countries. We need to enhance agricultural and horticultural production, promote fishing activities, increase milk production and industrial production. The PM must first eradicate poverty and malnutrition and later on ask people to adopt digital mode of payment.
The government has yet not revealed the names of Swiss bank account holders, accused involved in Panama papers scam etc. They must take steps to clean up politics by abolishing corruption. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had blamed the opposition for disrupting parliament and not allowing him to speak. Did he get up to speak? How many times did he attend the parliamentary proceedings?
(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)