Demonetisation hit hawala and fake currency the most

People standing in queue outside a private bank to deposit and exchange Rs 500 and Rs 1000 currency notes at Salt Lake City, Kolkata, West Bengal, India.

Following the demonetisation drive by the government, a lot of people who have accumulated Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes have panicked and acted in bizarre ways. Some others destroyed/burned money that they thought could not be used. Several real estate dealers, transport operators, wholesale traders and others who used to do business in cash only adapted strange ways to convert their defunct bank notes to legal tender. Here are some of the instances that I could read today.

A 60-year-old woman named Mariyumma Muhammed, a native of Kotukkara near Kondotty in Kerala’s Malappuram district, went on Saturday to the SBI branch at Kondotty with 49 currency notes of Rs 1000 denomination (Rs 49000). Finding 37 of the notes counterfeit (Rs 37,000), the SBI officials informed the police who arrested and later remanded her to judicial custody. On questioning, she said her sons working in the Gulf sent the money through Hawala channels. The money was meant for construction of a house.

According to various reports the counterfeit currency notes seized from various places in Kerala in the last few years were printed outside India. Continued and intensive checking and seizure of fake currency by the authorities only forced the operators to change their modus operandi to transport and use Indian Fake Currency Notes (FICN).

According to reports, FICN operators have widespread networks in Kerala and Karnataka and receive over Rs 50,000 crore through Hawala. Almost all the money meant for funding terrorism and other antinational activities enters India through this route.

In another case after the demonetisation drive, Sumit Kumar Tudu of Kendrapara district in Odisha was arrested by Odisha police. He went to deposit Rs 2.5 lakh in the SBI branch at Khurda town near Bhubaneswar. The bank officials found 42 fake notes of Rs 1,000 and 10 fake notes of Rs 500 totaling Rs 47,000. Deba Prasad Kanhar, the in-charge of SBI Khurda, said that they informed the police. Sumit Kumar Tudu claimed that he is the son of a bank officer and his father asked him to deposit the money in his father’s account.

In another sad case, a 48-year old man named Unni, a Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) employee, who came to deposit Rs 500,000 worth banned high denomination notes in the State Bank of Travancore in Thalassery, fell to his death from the second floor of the building.

Interestingly, within days of introduction of the new Rs. 2,000 note, Ashok, an onion grower in Chikkamagaluru in Karnataka, was cheated by a stranger with a photocopy of the note on Saturday morning, which he came to know only when his friends told him later.

The new 500 and 2,000 rupee notes are considered "high security" notes having several new security features and cannot be easily counterfeited compared to the now invalid notes.

As a result of demonetization, the Hawala racketeers in Mumbai have taken the worst hit and no transaction is likely to take place in the near future. Business circles in Mumbai fear it will pull down businesses that are accused of heavily depended on such illegal money.

Banks in the country received 3 trillion rupees ($44.4 billion) in the in the first four days after the government’s move to ban high denomination notes on November 8, the Finance Ministry said on Sunday.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Sunday directed all banks to submit daily reports of cash withdrawals across the counter and through ATMs in order to compile accurate data of currency circulation.

That finally comes to drying up of all the resources of fake currency notes and money in the illegal money transfer circuit, at least for now. Also, a lot of money that avoided the banking route will now get deposited and there will be a huge churning in the entire Indian economy. Of course, there are difficulties being faced by the common people, but I think it help in the long run.

Baba Ramdev and demonetisation of high value currency notes

On June 6, 2011, I wrote an article for this blog on Yoga Guru Baba Ramdev after I read the news of his eviction by the government from Delhi’s Ramlila Grounds. He, along with his followers, was protesting against black money then.

Now again he caught my attention when he told a news agency, “During war, our soldiers fight sans eating for 7-8 days; so can’t we do the same for our nation?”

In the report by the agency it is also brought out that in 2012 Ramdev asked the then Congress-led government to discontinue the Rs 500, Rs 1000 notes.

Now that his wish has been fulfilled by the Narendra Modi government he must be very happy. So, he is busy batting for the demonetisation announced by Modi, and therefore defending the move as vigorously as a ruling party politician, though he is not one.

It is not only long queues outside ATMs and banks, there were reported deaths and also injuries to people as well some people getting angered and breaking glass windows and other properties of banks too. These could have been avoided with a little more right information being given to people just after the announcement of banning the Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes, or at least when people rushed to the banks for exchanging notes or for depositing the notes in their accounts. It could have been by displaying the correct information at a few prominent spots in front of banks or distributing a few handbills containing the required information.

What happened was that most of the people who rushed to the banks and ATMs had only half-baked information or the wrong information that almost made them believe that all their hard-earned money is banned or otherwise lost because of the government action.

Here are a few incidents that I heard from various people and some tidbits that I read from newspapers:

In Delhi, a lot of people reportedly wasted their money by exchanging a Rs 500 note just for a short distance auto-rickshaw ride worth Rs 30, giving away the note just for buying a soap cake, or such small items.

Some devout and god-fearing persons found the donation boxes before temples as the repository of banned banknotes as they believed that donating the notes to the God will at least get them salvation – or they wanted to cheat the god too? A newspaper carried the photo of some pundits of a temple in Noida, UP, sitting with a huge pile of cash in order to count and stack them.

Another report in the newspapers said that some enterprising traders opened separate counters in their shops to exchange the notes at discounts ranging from 40 to 50 percent.

Those who had a little more to exchange scrambled to jewellery shops to buy gold. The gold traders too made hay as they raised the price of gold from Rs 40,000 to Rs 50,000 per 10 grams against the prevailing rate just around Rs 31,000. The jewelers sold out their stocks within no time and downed their shutters.

Some of the super intelligent and over smart persons searched for beggars in Delhi’s streets and told them to exchange their small change for the bigger denomination notes.

I personally heard a few people in my neighbourhood cursing the banks, the government and whoever they thought were responsible for the imagined loss of their hard earned money.

All these people seriously believed that they were carrying not banknotes of any value but just pieces of paper. Apart from whatever half-baked information they had, the shop keepers and whoever they talked to, just told them that the notes are banned and they are worth nothing.

The above anecdotes simply tell you that all the chaos, the serpentine queues, etc. were just because of misinformation.

Here are a few more things reported by the newspapers.

A 55-year-old woman named Vinoda who had recently sold 12 acres of land for Rs 54 lakh committed suicide in Mahabubabad district in Telangana on Thursday. Her family had spent Rs 4 lakh and had Rs 50 lakh left in cash. After hearing about the demonetisation she believed that notes were worthless and lost everything.

A nursing home in Govandi allegedly refused to treat a baby as a carpenter Jagadish Sharma, father of the newborn, could not pay Rs 6,000 in notes of Rs 100, though he requested to give him time to exchange the notes. The baby and mother were taken to another hospital where the infant’s condition worsened and he died before getting treatment.

There are several other similar cases reported from all over India.

I started with a reference to Baba Ramdev. Though I am not a follower of the Yoga Guru, I follow all the news about him and now I take special interest in reading news about his Patanjali Ayurved that has given a run for their money to multinational companies and top brands in personal care products and daily use items.

Along with the large number of his followers the Baba can help to educate the people at such critical times as I quoted above. What is needed is just passing on the right information at the right time. Alternatively, with the clout he has with some of the national leaders, he can persuade them to take care of such aspects.

Demonetisation of banknotes in India: some political reactions

Queue at an ATM for money in Howrah, West Bengal, on 8 November 2016

Since Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes invalid on Tuesday in a sudden and unexpected move for demonetisation of high value banknotes and replacing them with newly printed notes of denominations Rs 500 and Rs 2,000, he has got a mixed bag of reactions. Some are hailing the move while some others are severely criticizing it. How some of the politicians reacted to the move are below.

Indian National Congress criticised the central government's move to ban Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes. Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi said that it shows how little Narendra Modi cares about ordinary people. On November 11 Gandhi stood in queue outside the State Bank of India on Parliament Street in New Delhi to experience the ‘pain of the people’. He talked to some people to know their troubles. He said to news reporters who interviewed him, “Poor people are in trouble, I am here to get Rs 4, 000 exchanged. Neither you (the reporters) nor your crorepati owners nor the Prime Minister will understand the problems faced by people.”

Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) president Captain Amarinder Singh on Wednesday criticised the manner in which the government handled demonetisation. Singh said, “Though the move was a step in the right direction in order to curb corruption, terror funding and black marketing, the way it had been handled had led to chaos, with the small farmers, traders, daily wagers and the poor the worst hit.”

West Bengal Chief Minister and the chief of Trinamool Congress Mamata Banerjee tweeted, "I want to know from the PM how my poorest brothers, sisters who've received their week's hard earned wage in one Rs 500 note will buy atta, chawal, tomorrow?" She told the press in Kolkata on Saturday that despite ideological differences she is ready to work with CPI (M), Congress, Samajwadi Party, and Bahujan Samaj Party ‘to save the country’.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal (AAP) alleged, "Demonetisation is a big scam... People close to BJP were alerted in advance. There were heavy deposits in banks in July-September quarter. Who deposited these thousands of crores suddenly?"

Mulayam Singh Yadav, the chief of Samajwadi Party (SP) that rules Uttar Pradesh, said on Thursday at a press conference in Lucknow, “The sudden ban on high denomination notes has caused immense hardships to commoners, farmers and the poor, the demonetisation has been done by the NDA government with an eye on elections, and not keeping plight of people in mind.” He further said, “We are against black money. SP has fought against it. We do not want use of black money in elections.” He demanded a rollback of the ban ‘for a few days in view of the wedding season’.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav (SP) asked the government to ‘take all possible steps to minimise inconvenience to common people’, adding, "Central government must set up special banking counters in villages and district centres to assist the public, villagers and farmers."

Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati told reporters in Lucknow, “Economic emergency like situations have been created by the government to hide their inefficiency. Poor people, middle class citizens, small businesses and farmers have been hit the most and not the people who have black money.”

The Communist Party of India (Marxist), CPI (M), on Wednesday alleged that the move will burden ordinary people and increase bureaucratic harassment of people. Sitaram Yechury, the CPI (M) General Secretary, described it as ‘poorly planned’. He tweeted, "To uncover the illicit money trail, we demand that the govt release the name of Top 100 defaulters of bank loans". "This demonetisation is attempted as a gimmick to divert attention from serious social and political failures of this govt in past 2.5 years."

Pinarayi Vijayan, Chief Minister of Kerala - ruled by the CPI (M)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) - criticized the demonetisation saying, “It has to be understood that those who are having black money were aware of this earlier and hence they have not been affected with this. It has only affected the common man the most. The Centre has implemented this without looking into the practical difficulties face by the people." He wanted time till December 31 for people to use the existing notes.

Goa Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar (BJP) told reporters on Wednesday the demonetisation would not affect tourists who had arrived in the state. He said, “Like other people, the tourists can convert up to Rs 4,000, and usually they avail the facilities using credit cards. The inconvenience will be only for a day. From day after tomorrow, they can withdraw from ATMs”. He said he was personally happy with the ban which was to curb corruption, black money and terrorism. “There are some politicians who have stashed black money in their go downs. They are now having the sleepless nights,” he said, further adding that the clampdown on black money will also ensure that there is a ‘cleaner pre-election period’”.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief N Chandrababu Naidu described it as bold step. However, he suggested that reintroduction of high denomination notes should be revisited and urged the government to look for alternatives.

Swaraj Abhiyan leader Yogendra Yadav tweeted, "Positive move against counterfeit currency. Govt overplaying impact on black money. Opposition overplaying transitional problems."

It appears that demonetisation was initially welcomed by the people and political parties in India, with a few exceptions. But it is usually alleged that black money is used by politicians to influence voters during elections. State Assembly elections are going to be held in UP, Punjab, Goa, Uttarakhand and Manipur early next year. So, experts see a political angle in the move. However, the negative reaction to the government’s order, claiming to curb black money and counterfeit banknotes, is not as much as it should be for such a drastic move.

As a result of demonetisation, most people ran short of cash, and there was no way to exchange the higher value notes. Neighbourhood shop keepers and other traders refused to accept the banned notes. Banks were closed immediately after the currency ban to replenish their old currency stocks with the newly printed series of 500 and 2000 rupee notes.

According to political analysts, its impact is expected to show up in the assembly election outcomes in the five states of Punjab, Goa, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, and Manipur to be held early next year.