Demonetization: Much Ado About Nothing

We all remember the frightful night of November 8th, 2016 when our beloved and respected Prime Minister in full zeal and vigor announced the discontinuation of the existing currency. In other words, demonetization. In a flash, all the 500 and 1000 rupee-notes in the wallet became illegal. For the next few months, we saw miles-long queues which took several productive hours away from the working class. Existing projects, which ran on cash, got shut down and cash-dependent workers were shown the door.  Hundreds died, thousands got injured, lakhs got jobless and crores suffered. All in the hope for a better and incorruptible future which our PM showed. In the end, it didn’t even matter. All went in vain.

The latest report by Reserve Bank of India (RBI), which was released on 29th August, clearly mentioned that 99.3% of the circulated currency came back. So, the surgical strike on black money failed. 

The government, earlier, predicted that Rs 3 lakh crore in currency would not return to the banks. This has proved to be false, as almost all of the cash has returned. Meanwhile, the country’s banks reportedly detected a 480% jump in suspicious transactions post demonetization. 

Demonetization was also supposed to help detect fake currency. Nine months after demonetization, Rs. 11.23 crore in fake currency was claimed to be detected. Now, the Reserve Bank reports a gigantic jump in fake Rs. 2,000 notes. So, this claim also got deflated. 

Demonetization was would lead to a cashless economy. Another shroud to veil the failure and show themselves as saints. The cashless transaction did spike but then, normalcy prevailed and it grew with the rate previously predicted. In a statement, RBI claimed that after two years, the amount of cash with the public has reached a record high. 

Initially, the BJP government termed it as the surgical strike on black money. The bubble soon burst and the GDP decreased by 1.5%. Call it the arrogance, audacity, shamelessness or one more try to swindle people, in the Parliament, the Centre chooses to say demonetization has met its objectives when asked about the loss of GDP.  

Well, the curtains are now down and now the actors of democracy can reveal their true face behind the heavy make up. They need to tear that make-up down as the next act require different combination of lies, allegations and fake-dreams.