More than a week into demonetisation, the queues outside banks continue with no immediate end in sight. How quickly can the Reserve Bank of India print currency? Is this exercise actually ‘demonetisation’? How accessible is a bank to the average Indian? Find out as Praveen Chakravarty from IDFC Institute explains to Abhishek Waghmare:
Courtesy: India Spend
बांदा। पता नहीं, किन-किन सामाजिक झंझावातों और पहाड़ों का सामना करते हुए उत्तर प्रदेश के बांदा जिले के सुरेश ने बीए करने का सपना पाला था। सरकार के नोटबंदी के फैसले ने सुरेश के सपनों को मार डाला, सुरेश की हत्या कर दी! वह आत्महत्या नहीं है, शायद हत्या है!
सुरेश सिर्फ अपने कॉलेज में बीए की परीक्षा में शामिल होने के लिए अपनी फीस भरना चाहता था, कई दिनों से बैंक की लाइन में लग कर मायूस लौट रहा था। कल फिर उसे निराशा हाथ लगी और उसने घर आकर खुदकुशी कर ली।
8 नवंबर को प्रधानमंत्री के 1000 और 500 की नोट पर पाबंदी के ऐलान के बाद यूपी के बांदा जिले के मवाई बुजुर्ग गांव में 19 साल के सुरेश प्रजापति ने बैंक से पैसा नहीं मिलने के चलते आत्महत्या कर ली। लड़का स्नातक का छात्र था और उसे परीक्षा फीस जमा करने थे। सुरेश को चौथी बार बैंक से कैश ना मिलने पर मैनेजर के साथ उसका मनमुटाव हुआ था।
सुरेश ने बीते शुक्रवार को बैंक में 30 हजार रुपये के पुराने नोट जमा कराए थे। जिसके बाद वो दस हजार के नए नोट चाहता था। सुरेश के पिता लालूराम के अनुसार, सुरेश बांदा कॉलेज में बीएससी दूसरे वर्ष का छात्र था। लालू के अनुसार, बुधवार को फीस जमा करने का आखिरी दिन था। फीस के लिए पैसे ना मिल पाने से वो दुखी था। वो बैंक से लौट कर आने के बाद कमरे में उदास बैठा था।
घटना का पता तब चला जब सुरेश की मां ने खाने के लिए उसको आवाज लगाई और उसके जवाब ना देने पर कमरे में जाकर देखा तो उसने खुद को फंदे से लटकाया हुआ था। घटना के बाद गांववाले भड़क गए और उन्होंने बैंक पर हमला कर दिया। ग्रामीणों ने बैंक का फर्नीचर तोड़ डाला और बिल्डिंग को नुकसान पहुंचाने की कोशिश की।
इस घटना के बाद सवाल यह उठता है क्या वह कायर था? नहीं वह कायर नहीं था। इसके पहले भी नोटबंदी ने देशभर में 70 से अधिक लोगों की बलि चढ़ा दी है। सुरेश सरकार की ताजा नोटबंदी-क्रांति का एक और शिकार है। एक सैनिक शहीद होता है तो उसके लिए सरकार से लेकर मीडिया तक में जिस तरह की क्रांति हो जाती है, वह सब देखते हैं। लेकिन ये सत्तर से ज्यादा लोग कौन हैं और इनकी मौतों का जिम्मेदार कौन है और वे सरकार से लेकर टीवी मीडिया की फिक्र से क्यों दूर हैं?
Courtesy: National Dastak
The CPI-M has filed a writ petition in the Supreme Court on Wednesday seeking a direction to the government to allow people use old currency notes till December 30th, 2016, the last date for depositing demonetised notes, or until adequate supply of new currency notes, whichever is earlier. The petition moved by party general secretary Sitaram Yechury also sought an order to the government to place on record measures taken for supply of adequate currency notes in a time bound manner. The petition stated that it was evident from events/incidents being reported from all over the country that the decision of demonetisation dated 8.11.2016, was taken without any preparedness and also in a completely haphazard manner.
“The sheer number of notifications and circulars being issued one after another since 8.11.2016, unerringly demonstrate that the respondents are into a trial and error mode, at the cost of life of ordinary people. The summery demonetisation has resulted in total disruption of the payments and settlements that are part of daily life of the daily wage labourers, fishermen, small businessmen, street vendors, poor people working in the informal sector and lakhs of similarly situated persons.”
The petition also stated that the decision of the government to introduce new notes of Rs 2,000 denomination is against the very object of demonetisation, as legal and illegal cash-based transactions are likely to resume with the new Rs 2,000 notes. The petition also stated that the move would not yield the desired result of unearthing black money.
“The claim that demonetisation will check black money, fake currency, corruption and terrorism lacks substance. The bulk of black money generation and storage is in off-shore accounts in foreign currency, an issue which has already been seized of by this court. The basic avenues for money laundering through Participatory notes and diversions through tax havens remain untouched.
There is no attempt to curb the roots of generation of black money and this questions the bonafideness of the government,” the petition stated. It said another immediate victim of the summery demonitisation is the cooperative sector. “The cooperative banking sector, which deals with rural economy, has been severally crippled by virtue of this summery act,” it said
Another PIL challenging vires of S. Section 26(2) of RBI Act and Demonetisation Notifications Another PIL was filed in the Supreme Court, challenging Notification No. 3407 dated 08.11.2016 issued by the Ministry of Finance (Department of Economic Affairs), Govt. of India as amended from time to time. Petitioner-advocate Adil Alvi challenged the vires of Section 26(2) of the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934, to the extent it permits the government to decide the date from which it wishes to de-recognise legal tender.
The petitioner assailed the constitutionality of Section 26(2) of the RBI Act, 1934, on the ground of excessive delegation. It is stated that since the decision of the Central Government is of wide importance and pivotal to the monetary policy in India, it cannot be left to the whims of the government. That the precedent of 1978 (i.e. The High Denomination Bank Notes, (Demonetisation) Act, 1978, repeating High Denomination Bank Notes (Demonetisation) Ordinance 1978) and even Section 26A of the Act, clearly suggests that demonitisation of this scale and with such draconian effect can only be done by statute of Parliament. According to the petitioner, the mandate of Section 26(2) of the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934, was not followed.
The Central Board of the RBI did not “give” a recommendation independently after detailed consideration of all the issues; but the same was elicited by the Central government. The petitioner alleged that the failure of the government to grant exemption to essential services such as all hospitals (including private), doctors, lawyers, court houses etc., affects the exercise of fundamental right to health and access to justice. Meanwhile the Supreme Court today refused to stay the proceedings in PILs challenging demonetisation filed in various High Courts but issued notice to all petitioners.
The Times of India has reported that the cash of more than Rs 3.5 crore in scrapped Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes that mysteriously disappeared from Dimapur on Tuesday after being flown in by a chartered flight resurfaced on Wednesday (November 23) in an equally dramatic manner.The disappeared Rs 3.5 crore in scrapped currency notes was seized from a chartered flight in Nagaland.
(File photo for representative use)
While officials suspect that it could be part of a big money laundering racket, what is politically significant that, as the Nagaland police chief, L L Doungel told the newspaper, "The money, seized by the CISF, was handed over to officials of the income tax department. They handed it over to the claimant, Naga businessman Anato Zhimomi, after he produced an I-T exemption certificate." This businessman, Zhimomi – is none less than the son-in-law of Neiphiu Rio, the sole Lok Sabha member from the state – and has reportedly been arrested. Rio backs the BJP government at the Centre, the Modi government led by the BJP.
With thge Supreme Court being seized of the matter, and citizens before it demanding an independent probe into not just the decision of de-monetization, but the alleged nexus between the favoured few of this government in terms of access to notes and note exchanges, this episode and investigation could assume significance. As importantly is the fact that the Opposition in Parliament, too has demanded that a Joint Parliamentary Committee be appointed to go into every aspect of the issue.
Income tax and intelligence officials in the national capital suspect that the Rs 3.5 crore in scrapped currency notes seized from a chartered flight in Nagaland could be part of a big money laundering racket, with the masterminds exploiting tax exemptions for tribals in the northeast and non-existent security at smaller airports. Is there, then, the possibility of a nexus between the Centre and this racket?
A probe by the I-T department revealed that some businessmen, including the Gurgaon-based owner of a printing and packaging firm, allegedly roped in Anato Zhimomi, who claimed the seized money after producing an I-T exemption certificate, and took advantage of the absence of security at a small airfield in Hisar to haul at least Rs 11 crore in outlawed denominations of 500 and 1,000 to Dimapur by a chartered plane.
The money thus ferried was deposited into the account of Anato, the son-in-law of three-time Nagaland CM Neiphiu Rio, the sole representative in the Lok Sabha from the state who backs the BJP-led NDA at the Centre. Anato's father Khekiho Zhimomi served as a member of the Rajya Sabha from the Naga People's Front party.
Exploiting Tax Exemotions for Tribals in the North-East? Nexus with Centre?
Investigators are speculating on whether the masterminds might be exploiting tax exemptions for tribals in the northeast and non-existent security at smaller airports.
Yesterday’s TOI had reported that Central intelligence and income tax agencies are grappling with a peculiar situation with Rs 3.5 crore of cash in scrapped Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes "vanishing" after being seized on a private chartered flight at Dimapur in Nagaland. The cash was seized by Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel at Dimapur after a tip-off from the Intelligence Bureau and the local income tax staff was summoned to take further action with regard to the unaccounted wealth.
But to the surprise of CISF personnel, the cash disappeared and the local I-T officer is understood to have claimed that it had been with the security personnel all along. CISF officers who had alerted their headquarters about the seizure were shocked, but could do little as the I-T officer insisted he had nothing to do with the cash.
CISF, which does not have the power to carry out arrests, has reported the matter to IB and Central Board of Direct Taxes.
The plane's "main passenger" was one Amarjit Kumar Singh, a businessman from Bihar who was carrying the cash. The flight VTCP, which had taken off from Hisar in Haryana, was sent back to New Delhi. A source said Singh told CISF that "someone big" in Delhi had allegedly sent the cash for a Naga businessman. He also named another Naga businessman. The aircraft landed in Dimapur with Singh and an unidentified woman among those on board.
he exemption is not unique to Nagaland. STs in North Cachar Hills, Karbi Anglong, Bodoland Territorial Autonomous District in Assam, Jaintia and Garo Hills in Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura are exempted from income tax subject to certain conditions.
Dimapur deputy commissioner of income tax A Kitto Zhimomi refused to comment on the haul. He said only the CBDT was authorized to talk to the media.
पूरी खबर के लिए यहाँ क्लिक करें
आभार: http://khabar.ndtv.com
The Video of the Speech in the Rajya Sabha may be seen here:
Conceding to a united Opposition’s demand after a week of sharp criticisms, prime minister Narendra Modi had to present himself to the upper house of parliament today. He was present in the Rajya Sabha –the house of elders—when his scheme to abolish 500 and 1,000-rupee notes was labelled "a monumental management failure" by his predecessor, Dr Manmohan Singh.
"I do not disagree with these objectives, but there is monumental mismanagement of which there are no two opinions in the country as a whole," said Dr Singh, whose government was decisively defeated by PM Modi two years ago.
Dr Singh, a reputed economist, opened the debate in the Rajya Sabha on demonetisation on behalf of his party, the Congress. He said that while he cannot presume to know "the final outcome," agricultural and economic growth will be dented by the PM's sudden cancellation on November 8 of the high-denomination currency. It is here, in rural India where people have been hit especially hard. With limited or no access to banks and at a time when farmers are sowing their winter crop, the shortage of cash has the potential to turn into a crisis. The government has announced urgent measures to help farmers, like allocating 21,000 cores to state-lender NABARD to dispense as loans. The government has also indicated that while it expects a contraction of growth for a quarter, it is prepping a big investment push as compensation.
Since the winter session of parliament began last week, the opposition has attacked the government for failing to anticipate the shortage of cash that has eclipsed the country since the notes were cancelled with just a few hours of notice. Opposition leaders have been demanding a statement from the PM, while the government, till today, said Finance Minister Arun Jaitley would present the government's explanation.
Dr Singh's speech was preceded by sparring between opposition leaders and the Finance Minister, who said that the former PM's comments should be made once the debate was formally initiated.
There have also been serious questions raised on whether or not this drastic move will in anyway reduce either black money or corruption.
Water cannons to tame ruckus Image: Telehraph/Vijay Deo Jha
The Opposition's fierce protest against the Bills to bring amendments to the age-old Chotanagpur Tenancy (CNT) Act and Santhal Pargana Tenancy (SPT) Act spilled on to the capital's roads today, as the combine of the JVM-RJD-JDU and the Left held a march and staged demonstrations, inviting a showdown with police who had to use water canons and teargas shells to tame the crowd.
The Telegraph reported that, both in the assembly and on the streets the protests were loud. If the Assembly, where the Bills were passed by voice vote, witnessed utter pandemonium, outside it, the scene was no less chaotic, thanks to a mob of over 500 that laid siege to a key artery like Harmu bypass. Tomorrow, November 25, the state will witness a complete bandh called by the opposition political parties.
Over the past months, but since October 2016 particularly, the Jharkand government has been deploying force and the use of the gun to quell tribal protest in Jharkand: On Saturday October 1, 2016 a tribal agriculturist died a bloody death while protesting peacefully to save his land, and behind the killing of 5 Tribals, was the sordid story of the illegal acquisition of land by the NTPC: Hazaribagh. Sabrangindia had reported on the sinister nexus between the state police (Jharkand, a state ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party,BJP) and the Modi regime is revealed as the illegal acquisition of land by the NTPC in Barakagaon, as this acquisition has been coercively undertaken without the approval, statutorily mandated, by the Gram Sabha.
JVM chief Babulal Marandi and other party leaders during the march on Wednesday. (Prashant Mitra)
Union minister and Hazaribagh MP Jayant Sinha who came to assess the situation today at NTPC's Pankri Barwadih coal mine, Barkagaon, in the wake of the October 1 police firing on a land acquisition protest that killed five people, could not visit the site due to Section 144 of CrPC clamped in the troubled spot, but despite this, was quick to give a clean chit to the police after seeing video footage of that day. Admitting innocents became victims – three teenage students and a young tailor, whose relatives said they had no involvement in the protests, had fallen to the bullets – Jayant urged villagers not to be curious onlookers at times of trouble.
Wednesday’s agitation, led by JVM chief Babulal Marandi, started at Argora grounds where the protesters assembled at 11.30am. Marandi was joined by party colleague Bandhu Tirkey, RJD president Gautam Rana and former RJD minister Annapurna Devi, CPI leader Bhuvneshwar Mehta and state JDU president Jaleshwar Mahto.
While JMM kept itself away from the show of Opposition unity, state Congress also turned down Marandi's request to join the march. But former Union minister Subodh Kant Sahay was present with some supporters. Around 12.30pm, the protesters started walking from Argora grounds towards Vidhan Sabha. While the administration had given permission for the agitation only at Birsa Chowk and notified the route for the march via Ashok Nagar, the protesters changed their path at the last moment and decided to head directly to Satellite Colony from Argora.
Barricades were already set up at Satellite Colony Chowk, Birsa Chowk and Sector 2, where over 300 policemen thwarted the protesters' attempts to move ahead towards the Assembly.Enraged, the Opposition members squatted on Harmu bypass at Satellite Colony Chowk near DPS School, around 2km from the Assembly. As the air pulsated with high-pitched slogans, the leaders delivered speeches one after the other.
"Today is a black day for democracy. Chief minister Raghubar Das wrote a script that will bring doomsday for people of Jharkhand. He has proved his loyalty towards corporate houses. The amendments have been introduced with no good interest. Once implemented, they will change the occupancy rights of tribal over land," Marandi said.
Annapurna Devi of RJD alleged that Das was pushing for the anti-tribal, anti-minority and anti-dalit agenda of the BJP through the amendments.
"Das is toeing the line of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who tried to change the Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013, passed by the UPA government. But Modi had to buckle down under pressure from the Opposition and the people of the country," she said.
Sahay flayed the government for using force to stop people from raising their voices.
Marandi's party colleague and MLA Pradeep Yadav, who joined the street show right after the Assembly adjourned, said the fight against the amendments would become more intense than ever.
After Yadav finished his speech, the protesters went on the rampage, trying to break through the barricades. Police used tear gas and water canons to control the frenzied crowd. They also resorted to lathi-charge in which RJD worker from Dhanbad Tarkeshwar Yadav got injured.
Around 100 protesters, including Marandi, Mahto, Tirkey and Mehta, were arrested. They were later released.
Economic output in the current quarter may get affected, with the government’s demonetisation drive temporarily hitting commercial activities in some sectors, Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman conceded on Wednesday, November 23. This is probably the first acknowledgement by a Union Minister of the negative fallout of demonetisation on the GDP — although Sitharaman was quick to add that it would not last long, according to Hindu’s Businessline.
But the economy will expand subsequently as the Reserve Bank of India is releasing more cash now and banks have greater supply, the Minister added. She also a said that steps being taken to address rural woes; short-term loss to economy could be at least ₹12 lakh crore, says NIPFP report
“It is only the first week or ten days (following the demonetisation announcement) when there was (a) real hard demand for lower denomination or for ₹500 notes, which gradually came into the market. That week, commercial transactions would have taken an impact. But I think revival will happen. This quarter, there may be an impact on the outflow. It will protract after that,” Sitharaman said.
The government withdrew ₹500 and ₹1,000 notes as legal tender from November 8 in an effort to flush out black money, and began replacing them with new ₹500 and ₹2,000 notes. A full replacement, however, will take some time; this has resulted in a cash crunch.
Others, however, see a rather more grim impact from the government’s move. The sudden demonetisation drive has served a “body-blow” to the entire industrial sector, and the worst hit will be small and medium enterprises (SMEs), said Biswajit Dhar, Professor, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU).
“It is very clear that the impact of the demonetisation drive on demand had not been thought out by the government. It is difficult to assess the extent to which GDP will be hit and the duration, but definitely SMEs will be hit the most, and will take a while to recover from the dip,” he said.
Warning that a massive supply constraint was on the cards, Dhar said this would be a double whammy for exporters, who are already facing demand constraints.
The short-term loss to the economy could be at least ₹12 lakh crore or 8 per cent of GDP, according to R Kavita Rao from the New Delhi-based think-tank National Institute of Public Finance and Policy.
“If ₹3 lakh crore is being extinguished, as is often quoted in media reports, and, say, half of it is used for transactions, the corresponding GDP loss to the economy would be ₹12 lakh crore since, currently, GDP is about eight times the currency in circulation,. This will amount to about 8 per cent of GDP when compared to GDP for 2015-16,” Rao said in a post on the NIPFP website.
Sitharaman also pointed out that the government was taking steps specifically to address the problems of people in rural areas.
“After having heard a lot about agriculture workers and rural areas not receiving as much cash as they would want, the Finance Ministry yesterday reviewed the situation… I am given to believe that in the rural areas, there will be more cash flowing,” Sitharaman said.
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