Sir,
The sudden currency demonetisation has caused immense suffering to India’s majority poor, lower middle class and nearly illiterate rural populace to whom cash has been the king for centuries. Advising them on mobile and electronic banking could be waste of words. They need education and decent daily income, dependable banking facility, electricity, mobile interconnection guarantee to avoid call drops, and, equally important, data security that will protect their accounts from hackers. Growth of digital economy has given rise to hackers and fraudsters.
On record, it is not the first time that the Indian government has demonetised high value currencies. The Reserve Bank had earlier withdrawn Rs. 10,000 notes from circulation. Small coins upto 50 paise have all slowly disappeared from the market. No one complained. Because, they had little utility value to the common man. But, this time, the demonetisation of Rs.1,000 and Rs.500 notes have hurt them all mainly because of the constant pressure of inflation since 2009 that severely devalued the buying power of Rupee. For instance, today a Rs.100 note can’t get even a litre of packaged cooking oil. A domestic cooking gas cylinder costs over Rs. 500. In the absence of reliable healthcare from the government, most people are also forced to save cash to pay for medical emergencies. Private doctors, clinics and hospitals accept nothing but cash, even after the current demonetisation. For these healthcare professionals, the demonetisation has little impact on their cash collection and, also, black money generation.
Yours etc….
Natoo Banerjee
New Delhi
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