Is govt scrapping Rs 2,000 note? Opposition seeks clarity in RS

Naresh Agrawal of the Samajwadi Party raised the issue in the Rajya Sabha following reports that the Reserve Bank of India has stopped printing Rs 2000 notes.

The Opposition in Rajya Sabha on Wednesday sought clarifications from Arun Jaitley whether the government has decided to scrap newly launched Rs2,000 note.

However, Jaitley who was present in the House, did not respond even as the Opposition members insisted for clarification from him on the issue.

Raising a point of order during the Zero Hour, Naresh Agrawal (SP) said that "the government has taken a decision to scrap Rs2,000 note. The RBI has been given order not to print the Rs2,000 notes. If any policy decision been taken during the Parliament Session, the tradition is to announce it in the House."

So far, the RBI has printed 3.2 trillion pieces of Rs 2,000 notes.

"And now it has stopped printing. RBI cannot bully. One note ban has been done, the second one is being planned. Let the Finance Minister say," he said.

To this, deputy chairman P J Kurien said "that is RBI's action."

Agrawal then said that the earlier note ban decision was taken by the government and not the RBI.

The RBI board had opposed it but the government took the decision. The earlier decision of demonetisation was taken by the government, the second one is also from the government," he said.

Echoing his views, Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad too sought clarification from the government on whether it was planning to introduce Rs1,000 coins.

"Every day we read about a coin of 1,000, 100 and 200. What is the actual status? Are we to go by what media is writing? The House is to be enlightened by the finance minister. What is the truth," he asked.

"Are we going to have coin of Rs 1,000. To carry coins, we have to purchase a bag? We must know. Our sisters have the purse. We shall also have to buy purse just to carry the coins of Rs1,000 denomination," he said and added that there was no politics in this issue.

Tiruchi Siva said he cannot dispense with the media reports completely and sought clarification from the government on the issue.

Sharad Yadav urged the government to clarify on the rumors otherswise people will be left in soup over Rs 2000 note.

PTI