Demonetisation A derisory debacle

The ban on big notes is a clear demonstration of the NDA government's doubt, dishonour and disdain towards the 130 crore Indians. For this suspicious government, every citizen appears to be a black money hoarder. It claimed it would wipe out black money and corruption from the grassroots, but it boomeranged, and has not achieved its mission.

What has come of it

• No sign of black money retrieval
• No counterfeit money detected
• No terrorist money annexed
• People’s plight pitiable
• Disruption to business and daily life

On the contrary, it has left the entire nation traumatised, sending a wave of unrest across the nation right from the very moment. Experts knew life for the common man would never be the same anymore. Optimists thought of it as an uncomfortable yet welcome change, while economist gurus despised it from the day one for the precarious path it would lead the nation onto.

The prescience of experts proved to be correct and what we see now, after close to two months, is a pure pandemonium and a state of irreversible disorder that has driven the innocent masses into a state of desperation and distress. Modi's promise of bringing back the black money from 600 stash holders within 100 days of coming into power remains far from fulfilled, equally unkept is the promise of assuring the poor that they will be given Rs 15 lakhs each once the entire money is back.

The idea of demonetisation was built on the basis of the concept that the Rs 500 and 1000 notes formed 86% of the currency - amounting to around Rs 15 lakh crore and that ban of these notes would reduce black money and corruption. It was also believed that counterfeit currency could be easily traced and terrorist money could be well-tracked. Yet none of those plans is fruitful.

The decision that looked as capable of holding all the aces now appears to be a trip down the blind alley with no sign of light at the end of the tunnel. There is more than one reason why it is so. First, no black money has been traced so far and bigwigs are easily let off from standing in the queues with cash being available to them through back door. In fact it is the poor who were shown the hope that are struggling the most in scorching sun and shivery cold. The list of woes is endless and they live their lives away still trusting Modi's decision.

It is disheartening to observe that ban of currency is not the way to get the black money back - and the way the entire change has been handled deserves repudiation, because the purpose has not yielded any remarkable results. It may be a noble idea, but executed rather awkwardly.

"Measure twice, cut once," says the carpenter's adage. "Deliberate often, decide once," says Latin wisdom. It is clear that there was no sign of calculation and no homework was done before taking a monumental decision like this and this presumptuously omniscient government, in all its wisdom, has cast a death spell on the lives of the poor.

The very idea that was meant to wipe out the disparities among the rich and poor, proves to be actually conniving with black money hoarders who seem to be squandering their wealth as ever and successfully executing efficient ways of blanching their black money to the extent that even the new 2000 rupee notes that were thought to be effective in tracking black money are being smudged themselves. What an irony!

The results of demonetization are thus far from as predicted. The income declaration scheme preceding demonetisation is another fiasco that yielded no results. The effect of demonetisation is quite evident from the decline in state revenues. The government has paid a deaf ear even to the world economists and world media who predicted a sharp decline in growth of GDP in the years to come. On top of it, the stated goals of retrieval of black money, counterfeit currency and terrorist money are totally irrelevant to demonetisation.

Then what for do we need demonetisation? The dream of cashless economy in India is as credible as a holiday on the moon. With a majority of people literally illiterate and the public representatives themselves unaware, this idea of cashless economy is already a complete disaster, because it calls for digital literacy.

People have realized the mediocrity of thought and preparation behind the magniloquence of Modi and his daily announcements of new ideas and strategies no longer excite or incite the people of this nation anymore, but invoke fear and frustration. (Writer is former TPCC President and former Minister)

By Ponnala Lakshmaiah