3 reasons why demonetization is a flawed exercise

Eighth of November, 2016 would be etched on every Indians’ mind for a long time to come. For that was the day, when the Prime Minister of the country appeared on the televisions of his

country people to announce the sudden decision of removing the Indian currency notes having the monetary values of five hundred and thousand, respectively, with immediate effect. And gave

time for the citizens till December 30th to exchange/deposit their money in the banks. He announced quite boldly and with all conviction that it would help eliminate the scourge of “dirty”

money, i.e., ill-gotten wealth. When the Prime Minister of your country gives such announcements, you would believe that proper planning had already been done and smooth implementation is

expected. Now don’t get me wrong. Ill-gotten wealth is truly the scourge of the country, but elimination of such wealth through such an adventurous endeavor requires proper planning, smooth

implementation and correct execution without which it is bound to fail. Though, taking such a risk, is laudable, but the entire exercise is fundamentally flawed. Firstly, India as a nation,

is a mostly cash-based economy. Suddenly, removing almost 86% of the notes from circulation is bound to affect everyone and every sector of the economy is getting affected. Secondly, to

eliminate this scourge — demonetization is not the answer. Corruption needs to be ended — especially in the tax, revenue and police departments. Political funding should be made transparent

and accountable. The third flaw is that this endeavor of the State makes it appear as if all its citizens are criminals in its eyes unless they prove their innocence. Irony is that even our

Justice system does not follow that. The maxim that is followed in our Courts is — “_Innocent till proven Guilty._” We hear news that some individual/individuals/firms have been raided and

certain amount of money has been seized. None of the actual bigshots or high-fliying individuals have been caught so far. Nor, do we hear of any action against those with accounts in the tax

havens or whose names have been published in the Panama leaks. We do not get to hear about the next steps taken on the individuals that were caught. Also, it is shocking to see such high

number of the latest denomination notes with them, when people are not even getting ten thousand rupees in a week. This means that the scourge remains as corruption has not ended which again

leads to the second point that I raised. “Dirty Money” is not the scourge, it is the curse. Corruption is the Scourge. Now, government and affiliates are saying Demonetisation is being done

to make India a cashless economy. This is laughable if not for the fact that many people have died trying to access their own hard-earned money. Forcing a nation to become cashless is

authoritarian and runs contrary to the Consitution of the country which enshrines the Fundamental Rights of the citizens. Also, “cashless” would not require demonetization, it would require

digitization and incentivization. And then there is the small matter of individual choice in a democratic country. For the proponents of this “cashless” drive, those who think only in the

monetary aspect of the economy and do not want to consider the human aspect — even in free market, monopoly is frowned upon — then, why are the citizens being forced to have only “cashless”

as an option? Where is the concept of Choice?