THE CHASE FOR BLACK AND WHITE

From one side of our country :-               

“I waited for an hour in the queue and minutes before my turn, the ATM was already down. My biggest problem is buying groceries and paying for other petty expenses,” a 35 year old housewife Aditi Saha from Kolkata, says.

From another side of our country :-

“People’s view of the whole situation was limited to the lines they saw outside the bank, but what was happening behind closed doors was entirely different. On one end, there were chaiwalaas, istriwalas who were queuing up to deposit, their hard earned money, but on the other end, we are receiving black money that had been stashed away for years possibly and all this cash smells like rotten leather”, a bank manager, from Mumbai, says.

India is one country in the world, to have witnessed events that have been extremely historic in nature. But, the latest one did not just shock the Indians alone, but the world as a whole.

What unfolded on Nov 8th ,2016 at 8pm is believed to be an act that shook India in totality. The sudden impact of demonetization of 500 and 1000 rupee notes have affected all sections of the society, immensely. While some people are totally against this ‘sudden action’ of the government, protesting against the hardship caused due to this policy, others are in real hardship in order to protect as well as dispose money that they have been hiding all this while.

By midnight of the very same day, India lost approximately, 86% of her monetary base. Through this one single move, the Government attempted to tackle all the three issues affecting the economy, that is, parallel economy, counterfeit circulation of currency and terror financing.

The policy has helped the country eliminate black money on a large scale. Economists say the move will be beneficial in the long-run as it is targeted at weeding out tax evasion and corruption. Unaccounted money makes up nearly a fourth of the economy.  Out of this, lots of money in circulation is seen in day to day  transactions. The sudden action of demonetization of 500,1000 rupee notes is therefore a bull’s eye policy, that perfectly aims and has almost achieved the aim of curbing black money.

 

However, many are not so supportive of this decision considering the difficulties arisen due to this policy. The long queues at the banks, ATM, the running- around for change, the trouble in exchanging the newly introduced 2000 notes are few amongst the many reasons that people are disapproving this policy. Inspite of the Government trying many ways to make the present scenario better, people still are unhappy and blame the government for not executing this plan well.

 

A lot of incidents have been reported regarding difficulties caused due to demonetization across the country. But one incident that shocked many was where a baby had died in a hospital, as the officials had refused to accept a deposit paid in banknotes which were withdrawn from circulation the day before.

 

The incident had brought wide-attention from all over and had made the electronic, social as well as print media react. However, most of the responses were criticizing the Government and that is why, mainly, we still say our country is a developing one. We Indians might have come a long way developing our country physically, but mentally, we still lack development.  In such a situation, it is not the government that is at fault but the lack of humanity that causes such miserable incidents. Once again, it shows the various preferences that we have laid down in life.

 

 The policy, yes, has been disturbing our day to day lives. But, it is we who have to accept the positivity of this change and be more understanding. Try helping the needy and educate the illiterate to make this situation better. After all, the result of this policy might not be seen immediately, but definetly on the long run will help India progress. Every idea man has come up with has had a positive and negative side. We have come all this way by accepting the positives and finding solutions to the negatives. The struggle is real, but it might be worth the patience at the end.