Demonetisation Catastrophe

This is with reference to the “Demonetisation: One Step Forward, Two Steps Back” (EPW, 10 December 2016) by Kobad Ghandy. The article rightly points out the everyday havoc and agony faced by millions of poor and middle-class people due to the decision to demonetise widely-used currency notes by the Modi government. The disastrous decision taken in the name of fighting black money has frozen common people in bank lines, whereas, the real black money holders are enjoying the show on their televisions. Moreover, the banks are not taking responsibility of providing cash by saying that there is not enough cash supply.

According to Ashis Nandy, it is “developmental authoritarianism.” The move of demonetisation is just an attempt to capture the imagination of people. More than 80% of the people have no access or insufficient access to banking facilities. Many may not trust banks. These lifetime savings of the poor and middle-class people cannot be termed as black money.