Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s decision to demonetise high value currency notes has hit the common people and created a crisis. The women are the worst sufferers. While the male cannot afford to miss the office, the women folk are forced to go around the banks for money.
What can a common man do when the RBI and the banks officers are involved in rackets for the exchange of money. The rich people or the business class have no problem, but majorly of the people are from the villages and women are in trouble for the regular circulation of money.
But since the announcement, serpentine queues have lined up outside banks and ATMs of people replacing their rupee notes or making small withdrawals.
Modi’s administration has faced sharp criticism over the slow pace of introducing the new notes, with banks running out of cash and ATMs having to be recalibrated to cope with the different sized bills – a process that is still incomplete.
The Indian economy’s high reliance on cash only adds to the crisis. Furthermore, many in the South Asian nation lack proper access to banks and financial services.
“People are very much disturbed by this demonetisation. Farmers are not getting seeds and fertilisers. And the biggest problem facing are the women of our country. Prime Minister should think that when even his mother is forced to stand in queue then what about others, it’s a serious crisis.
The situation in the rural areas is very bad as the banks have failed to transport the stock of the new currency in the ATMs and branches in rural and semi urban areas.Almost all the ATMs have been closed. There are no cash boards every where.
There’s a lot of tinkering to be done with limits and schedules of the exchange outlets and bodies authorized to take payments in old bills — state-owned electricity suppliers, for instance. To the credit of the government, this is being done on a continuous basis. But there are questions — especially from political parties — over their effectiveness.
Unless and untill you fill the banks and ATMs with money the issue cannot be resolved. The BJP Government will be forced to pay a heavy price and it could hit Modi officially a lot.
Plastic money will add to problems of the public.
U.Srinivas
Editor
