Moa Jamir
On Sunday, I went for a haircut. Surprisingly, the lone hair salon near my colony was empty. The barber was busy fiddling with his mobile phone. Thanking my lucky stars, I sat down to get my hair done. Naturally, the conversation veered towards a topical issue– Demonetisation.
Does any barber sit idly on a normal Sunday morning? The Barber curtly replied when asked about the impact of demonetisation on his business.
“I promise to pay the bearer a sum of...” is a crucial feature of the promissory notes that is written in all the legal tender notes in India stipulating a promise – to pay the bearer the sum of the note on demand. A concept which the Bank of England elaborated as, “The note could be redeemed at the Bank for gold or coinage by anyone presenting it for payment; if it was not redeemed in full; it was endorsed with the amount withdrawn.”
However, this promise temporarily remains suspended since the announcement of demonetisation process by the Prime Minister on November 8. More than three weeks later, the process looks more and more like the whims of a ‘megalomaniac dictator’ engineering a social experiment on common people, backed neither by logic nor by groundwork.
An experiment which Nobel Economic laureate, Professor Amartya Sen likened to “despotic action” which “at one stroke the move declares all Indians — indeed all holders of Indian currency — as possibly crooks, unless they can establish they are not.”
Putting the general populace on an ethical dilemma, it was unleashed as a ‘purge’ to wipe-out the ‘termites’ of ‘Black Money’ and ‘Corruption’ from the system. “War is peace...” George Orwell euphemistically wrote in his dystopian novel ‘1984;' ‘Minor inconvenience’ for ‘future expediency,’ the government justifies.
While there is no official confirmation, the ‘short-term pain’ for a ‘long-term gain’ has allegedly claimed the lives of over 60 people, including 11 bank officers, according to media reports. A slew of u-turns in policy and implementation changes following the initial announcement has made people question implementation process. Former Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh in a scathing attack termed the process an “organised loot and legalised plunder” and a “monumental disaster.”
With the onslaught of criticism, the Government has now conveniently found a new scapegoat. Law and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Saturday said the decision to scrap Rs 500/1000 notes was taken by the government on the recommendation of the RBI. A similar claim was made by Union Power Minister Piyush Goyal in Rajya Sabha last week. While the country undergoes its biggest monetary restructuring, the RBI Governor, who is mandated to make and execute the monetary policy of the country, had remained conspicuously quiescent till Sunday.
On Sunday, the Prime Minister made an ardent appeal to work towards a 'less-cash' society immediately. If you don’t have cash, learn to use e-banking; he seems to be reminding struggling citizen, a cruel reminiscent of the “Let them eat cake” quote attributed to French Revolution.
Rubbing salt to the injury, the ruling dispensation pompously declared that 93% of the five lakh people who participated in a survey on the Narendra Modi App have supported demonetisation. However, grandiosity has been a crucial narrative of the current dispensation and its loyal followers. When everything fails, one’s conformity with the dominant narrative is scrutinised often bracketing the nonconformist with ‘vilified enemies.’ Those surveyed on the app obviously does not include the tragic father who carried his ailing nine-year-old 30 km through hills and forests in Jammu & Kashmir for want of cash only to take back a corpse; the lives that ended in queues; the overworked bankers; the everyday common person struggling to meet daily needs; the rural populace outside the formal financial ambit; and countless others. They were all part of ‘minor’ inconvenience the citizen undergoes for a ‘greater good’ tomorrow.
