Date- 8 November 2016
Time- 8 PM
No one, in their worst nightmares would have thought of the incident which
was about to happen. A very major step was taken in order to fight corruption
and black money. The government decided to scrap the notes of Rs. 500 and Rs.
1000. In order to curb the growing menace of black money, and to stop the
terrorist activities against India, demonitization was implemented. Let me tell
you the basic definition of this term. Withdrawal of a particular form of
currency from circulation is termed as demonitization. Thus, new notes of Rs.
2000 (the very same ‘Rooh-afza’ coloured notes as pointed by Twinkle Khanna)
and Rs. 500 were introduced into the market.
Well, a month has passed since then I would say that the move is great but
the implementation is poor indeed. The consequences are hard to bear for the
unorganized sector. While the rich people are not affected much but the rural
households have been worse hit by the incident because of their nearly zero
dependence on cashless economy. As a result repeated lay-offs are happening
(L&T for example), farmers are not able to buy seeds, fishing market is
deeply affected, marriages are getting postponed. In fact, people are not able
to buy medicines and several hospitals are denying the treatment of patients
with old bank notes. In some areas people are not even able to buy food for
themselves. Everyday a new rule is substituted in the market but the message is
not properly conveyed to the people with limited means of communication. Did I
fail to mention the cash queues?
The conditions prevailing in banks is none other than the mob waiting for
the passenger train that has been delayed by several hours. Everyday long queues
are formed outside the banks as people are daily depositing or exchanging
notes. But, upon getting to the front of the line, people are often met with
strict withdrawal limits, because, not enough new currency was printed prior to
the announcement. Also, the new notes design prevents them from fitting into
existing ATMs, and their denomination 2,000 rupees is too high to be useful for
most people, as smaller-denomination notes were not printed which means, that
few can make change. Comparing the
queues with the condition of soldiers and various auditions was meant to be a
joke (or sarcasm or whatever) but even that was taken seriously. People are
going to their extreme limits and form a line as early as 5AM. Many people have
reportedly died in cash queues too. And in-spite of the trouble they are
taking, many of them are not able to withdraw money from the banks.
Reason-Insufficient supply of cash in the banks. Because of the poor
implementation, no cash is available in banks, and when it is available, it
vanishes in 2-3 hours. But has anyone thought about the bankers, who are
continuously working for our betterment. They are also homo sapiens just like
you and me. Yes I agree that many of us have to stand for 4-5 hours in the line
but they work around 12 hours these days. Instead of thanking the bankers, we
are blaming them for nepotism and the sudden disappearance of cash. (As if they
are hiding the cash for their own selfish interests). People are not able to
understand one simple fact that bank is only the medium of cash exchange. What
can a bank manager do if cash isn’t available? As a result repeated abusing,
daily fights are a daily phenomenon in banks.
Well, let’s hope that things return to normalcy before the patience of the
already angered crowd gives up and all hell breaks loose. Let’s see what
happens in the upcoming year !!
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