Demonetisation - Has the Government achieved what it promised?

On November 8, 2016, Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a massive move aimed at curbing circulation of black money announced that Rs 500 and Rs 1000 currency notes would cease to be legal tender, and hence have to be deposited in banks. He claimed that the move would help in bringing more transparency in the economy and would help expose the ones indulging in the circulation of unaccounted cash.

The Prime Minister had also said that ATMs and banks would be lacking in cash for 3 says on the day of the announcement, however, this period of lack of availability of cash ran into months and soon people who were cheering for the move before, started questioning the decision.

If reports are to be believed, over 150 people died waiting in the serpentine queues at the ATMs, the then ruling party of Uttar Pradesh, the Samajwadi Party also offer ex-gratia to the kins of the ones who dies due to demonetisation. In different parts of the country people complained of several problems such as difficulty in availing medical treatment due to lack of new currency, many small businesses were forced to shut down due to the lack of currency and also because India is still lagging behind when it comes to digital transactions.

The Government was also attacked on it changing narratives pertaining to the goals of demonetisation. The Government had promised that such a moved would control the circulation of black money in the system at first and them shifted to achieving a cashless economy, then said that the move was designed to combat terrorism and also said that curtailing the production of counterfeit currency notes was what it was aiming at.

In spite of providing discount of the use of cashless transactions for business purposes, it failed to push digital transactions in India to any decent extent. Several jawans have lost their lives even after demonetisation which proved that the move did not do much when it comes to combating terrorism.

Also according to recent data, almost 99% of the cash scrapped has made its way back to the banks making it clear that demonetisation failed to catch the ones hoarding black money. Over 600 Rs 2000 counterfeit currency notes were also found.

Demonetisation to many,is a massive failure which failed to achieve what it has promised, however some still think that demonetisation will show its effect and people have to be patient to reap the benefits of the move.

OneIndia News