My Opinion

It is more than a month since the government decided to withdraw Rs 500 and Rs 1000 currency notes from circulation, and yet the queues at ATMs and banks continue. Bank officials say they are short of cash, and ATMs also face the same cash crunch. The government has been claiming that the RBI has provided adequate number of new high-denomination currency notes to the banks, but the common man standing in the queue is now asking: where have the new currency notes vanished? People who had been supporting Prime Minister Modi’s demonetisation move have started suspecting that a huge quantity of new currency notes have been siphoned off from the banks to well-connected people and the common people have to stand for hours in queues. This perception could cause problems for the government in the long run. The government has now started scrutinising the transactions of banks and those hoarding new currency notes are being raided and nabbed. Yet the government has to give a convincing answer as to why new currency notes have not reached the common people in sufficient numbers.

On November 8, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that Rs 500 and Rs 1000 currency notes will no more be legal tender, most of the experts had estimated that a big part of Rs 14.17 lakh crore rupee in old currency notes will go out of the banking system as black money. The State Bank of India had pegged its estimate at nearly Rs 2.5 lakh crore, which would go extinguished out of the system, and this would have been a windfall for the RBI and the government. The liabilities of RBI then would have reduced. But the deputy governor of RBI on Wednesday gave figures to say that nearly Rs 12 lakh crore old currency notes have already been recovered as of December 5. There are 25 more days left, and it is now incumbent on the government to explain how it will benefit from the demonetization move. A senior Finance Ministry official explained that mere depositing of huge amount of currency notes into bank accounts does not mean that black money has been converted into white. He said, the Income Tax department would now go into all big transactions, which, in itself, will be a Herculean task. One estimate is that out of Rs 12 lakh crore deposited, nearly Rs 7 lakh crore have been deposited in accounts where more than Rs 1.5 crore in old currency notes have been deposited in one go. Transfer of huge amounts in old currency notes in bank accounts, and exchange of huge amounts of old currency notes with new ones could not have taken place without the connivance of senior bank officials. The government now needs to take action against such errant officials too.

Jayalalithaa was a great fighter throughout her life, she never conceded defeat. An able administrator, a great orator, she understood the travails of her people.

Those in the opposition were her political rivals, but she always accorded them respect. Jayalalithaa’s personality was a mystery wrapped in enigma. When her party leaders visited her at home, she used to stay on the first floor, and spoke to them on an LED screen, but her hold on the party was complete.

Her ministers used to take oath keeping her photograph in their pockets, they used to lie protstrate in front of Amma, and yet Jayalalithaa’s magic among the masses worked wonders, only because she adored her people, and the masses, in turn, adored her. That is how Jayalalithaa became Amma for the masses.

Many people have raised questions about why Amma was not cremated according to Hindu traditional rites, but laid to rest. The reason being, the father of the Dravidian movement C N Annadurai had specifically wrote in his will that his body should be laid to rest, and not cremated.

Jayalalithaa’s mentor and political guru M G Ramachandran was also laid to rest. Taking this tradition forward, Amma was laid to rest on Tuesday.

And now, looking to the future, Jayalalithaa’s closest aide Sasikala, who had been her companion for the last two decades, barring a brief period of quarrel, will now be looking after the day-to-day affairs of AIADMK.

Amma herself met and spoke to few people in her daily life, and most of the conversations were done through Sasikala. So, those in Tamil Nadu politics do know what had been Sasikala’s role, and what is going to happen in the years to come.

Many, many years ago, in 1987 to be precise, I had watched the massive funeral procession of Jayalalithaa’s political mentor, the great M G Ramachandran. I saw thousands of his fans and supporters weeping, running barefoot behind the cortege. There were incidents of self-immolation and arson in several cities of Tamil Nadu following MGR’s death. I fervently pray this will not happen this time, and the people of the great state of Tamil Nadu will face the tragic news with stoic forbearance. In essence, the politics of Tamil Nadu had been coagulating behind single personalities over the last several decades, and ‘Amma’ Jayalalithaa was one of them. The future of the entire party AIADMK is dependent on Jayalalithaa’s image. The baton of governance may have passed over to O. Panneerselvam, and that of the party to Sasikala Natarajan, but the future yet lies in the realm of conjectures. My deepest condolences to the innumerable supporters of AIADMK in their hour of grief.

The new unaccounted income disclosure plan announced by the government on Monday is a welcome step.

It will give another chance to people who have hoarded black money and were working in the parallel cash-based economy that had been in existence for the last sixty years.

This scheme is expected to bring in much-needed funds to be spent on irrigation, education and health.

Moreover, it will not give such people a chance to complain that there were not given any opportunity to disclose their unaccounted income.

On the other hand, the common man, no doubt facing cash crunch woes, has emphatically demonstrated on Monday that it is not with the Opposition on the demonetisation issue.

The strike call had no effect in most of the metros and urban clusters.

The Opposition itself appeared to be divided, with BSP, SP and JD(U) refusing the support the strike call.

The significant part is that not a single major Opposition leader is saying that Prime Minister Modi’s demonetisation move is wrong.

All the charges that are being made by the Opposition relate to lack of adequate preparations to implement the decision.

The horrendous act of mutilation of an Indian army jawan’s body by Pakistani soldiers near Line Of Control in Machhil sector of Kashmir is a cowardly one, an act against humanity. Understandably, this act has created a sense of outrage in the minds of the people of India. This is the second time in two months that an Indian soldier’s body was mutilated by Pakistan. India must respond and teach Pakistan army a lesson. Our army and BSF jawans are on high alert on the border, and are trying their best to stop Pakistan’s designs to infiltrate terrorists into our territory by providing covering fire. Our enemy’s desperation and intentions are clear. Our army and BSF should take care that no more fatalities occur on our side. The seizure of two new Rs 2000 currency notes from two terrorists killed in Kashmir points to the fact that terrorists and their masters sitting across the border are desperate because of the government’s decision to demonetize Rs 500 and Rs 1000 old currency notes.

Circulation of currency notes in India is to the tune of nearly Rs 16.5 lakh crore, out of which Rs 500 and Rs 1000 legal tenders that were withdrawn on Nov 8, were to the tune of nearly Rs 14 lakh crore. The government feels that the financial position of almost all banks will improve with the infusion of huge amount of cash. The banks will then have money to loan out to new startups and other big companies. This will surely give a boost to the manufacturing sector and will create more job opportunities. With better liquidity, the banks will be in a position to lend at lower rates of interest. This will also help the real estate sector which is in urgent need of infusion of money. With nearly one-third of the money circulation reaching the banks within a short span of eight days, the government now feels that its overall demonetisation strategy is surely moving in the right direction.

Of course, questions have been raised about why exemptions were not earlier given to farmers and families who had weddings to organise. The government’s point was that Prime Minister Narendra Modi wanted utmost secrecy before making the announcement, and had consulted only six persons. These advisers had anticipated problems and had suggested solutions accordingly, but now that more and more problems are coming to the fore, the government is providing more exemptions and solutions. When it was found that people were jamming queues outside banks to exchange old notes more than once, the govt came forward with the idea to use indelible ink to ensure that nobody exchanged old notes more than once. Similarly, farmers and families involved in wedding preparations were given exemptions. The latest problem is that though the government is announcing exemptions, the implementation and execution part needs more speed.

It is gratifying to note that the use of indelible ink on the forefinger of those exchanging money in banks has resulted in shortening of queues, as some people were exchanging old currency notes multiple times in the absence of any such restriction. Some experts had doubted and mocked at the government’s decision to use indelible ink, but this method has helped. There is another suggestion for banks to issue tokens to people desirous of exchanging or depositing money. This will do away with long queues outside banks and people can use their time for other productive uses instead of standing in queues for long hours. One should admire the resilience and untiring efforts of bank employees across India who are engaged in executing the demonetisation plan. The overall work is gigantic and the resources at the disposal of the government are limited, but one hopes, we will soon tide over the cash crunch crisis.

Now that the queues outside banks and ATMs across India are continuing, the government is coming forth with solutions to address each problem. Officials are working day and night to find solutions, but considering a big country like India, such problems were bound to occur. The government should have anticipated these problems in advance, and, on this count, I have no hesitation in saying it was failure on part of the Centre to anticipate problems. But hats off to the common people, who after spending entire days in queues, are with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s decision to demonetise Rs 500, Rs 1000 notes. The poor people’s common refrain is that they fully support the decision, but there should have been proper planning before implementing such a big decision. This could have avoided unnecessary harrassment to the common public.

It is true that when a major policy decision like demonetisation is taken, people do face problems for sometime, but this could have been avoided through meticulous planning. When R 500 and R 100 notes were being demonetised, the authorities should have anticipated the problems that the common people would face on a gigantic scale and should have planned accordingly. The Centre must now immediately start plans to alleviate the problems being faced by common people at all ATMs and banks. Common people, housewives, daily wage labourers, small traders have been leaving their homes and shops for the last three days and queuing outside banks and ATMs for hours, but at many places, cash is soon exhausted. These problems did not crop up all of a sudden. The banks knew such problems would arise, but no solutions were planned in advance. Because of lack of cash, trade in small and big markets, footfalls at cinemahalls and shopping malls have almost come to a standstill. Urgent steps are needed to ensure that there is adequate cash flow to the common people.

The multiple raids by Income Tax department in the Metros and other cities against traders and jewellers on Thursday trying to help black money hoarders is a welcome step. Similar steps by Railways and Air India not to refund high-value tickets purchased with old Rs 500, Rs 1000 currency notes are also praiseworthy, but if one looks at long queues of common people outside banks across India on Thursday, several questions do arise. Why were not more counters opened in banks to swiftly deal with the large number of customers who had come to exchange old notes? Why was not sufficient cash kept at banks to deal with the huge rush? Why were separate counters not opened for women and senior citizens? Finance Minister Arun Jaitley may well say that there is a 50-day window for exchanging old notes, but for people hailing from lower and middle classes, a 50-day wait is too long. These are ordinary people who need money for their day-to-day essential requirements. And the result was chaos.This could have been avoided. Moreover, it is still not clear why the government has printed Rs 2000 notes and has also announced it would print new Rs 1000 notes. This flies in the face of earlier assertions that most of the black money has been hoarded in high-denomination currencies. For the record, in the US, the highest denomination is a 100-dollar note, and in the UK, it is a 50-pound note. Then what was the logic behind printing fresh Rs 1000 and Rs 2000 notes, if the aim was to root out black money?

It is true that several sections of people are facing problems after the Centre demonetized old currency notes of Rs500 and Rs 1000 denominations.

If patients in private hospitals face cash payment problems relating to surgery and purchase of medicines, then the govt must step in.

The govt hopes, the situation will improve by next week, but sufferings of patients cannot wait till then. What can patients do, if private hospitals refuse to take payments through old currency notes or by cheques?

Similarly, this being the onset of wedding season, families busy with purchases are facing problems.

There is no doubt, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s intentions to uproot black money are laudable, it will stop the parallel economy and fake currency trade in its tracks; even the common people acknowledge it, but govt should also consider practical difficulties being faced by common people.

We hope the government will surely come out with solutions so that common people do not suffer because of the demonetization move.