Dinesh Kamath's Editorial 'Big move by the government without enough planning' that was published in Newsband

Big move by the government without enough planning

Eighty six per cent of currency notes in a country of 1.3 billion people were rendered illegal tender in a matter of hours. Disruption in daily lives was inevitable.

Luckily Farmers’ income was not taxed, but the agricultural economy is still controlled by middlemen and traders. The introduction of the Goods and Services Tax will affect such intermediaries. Rural Indians, like their urban peers, may be in a tizzy for now over the currency swoop and face challenges in transactions. The latest relaxation, allowing farmers to withdraw Rs. 25, 000 a week, came as a boon to the lower group of agricultural sector.

The Reserve Bank of India and the Central government were clearly not prepared for the cash crunch in bank vaults and post offices. A thought should also have been spared for people’s healthcare costs. The long, anxious, and frustrating wait by people outside banks and ATMs across the country over the last five days after the demonetisation of notes of Rs. 500 and Rs. 1,000 is a painful sight. This chaos could have been anticipated and managed better.

Such a move require planning of the highest order. That preparation was lacking and could have been handled much better. ATMs were running out of cash quickly while banks were dispensing more of the Rs. 2,000 notes than those of lower denominations. Putting out new Rs. 500 notes along the Rs. 2,000 notes immediately after demonetisation would have placed much less strain on those of the Rs. 100 denomination, which are anyway in short supply.

The public were in a state of panic. Thankfully, the Centre has woken up to ease the pressure on the system by increasing withdrawal limits, petroleum outlets and hospitals to accept the old series of notes until a certain time.

The worst-affected were people in rural areas and villages. The decision taken by Prime Minister is really working well and appreciated globally but some measures should be taken before implementation of such a big plan because it is the innocent people who are facing turbulence for long hour for getting money from bank or ATM.

We have to appreciate our Prime minister for his action which put those politicians, who have plenty of black money and make much noise in parliament by shedding crocodile tears for public, in awkward situation. People who are waiting in long queues are used to such exercise since they have been doing it elsewhere too.