Demonetisation blues

The rising tide of demonetisation is supposed to hit only the black boats. The ocean liners packed with illicit and ill-gotten wealth are rising up to the challenge and finding myriad ways to overcome the cash crisis.

But, the rafts and rowboats are sinking. The ignominious among the rich fudge the economy. But, the commoner is asked to bear the brunt of the demonetisation blues.

The fortnight-long Modinama unleashed on the country has really unveiled a cashless society, of course, of a different breed. It’s unlikely that cash normalcy will be restored at least for some more months.

The party in power is slowly but surely feeling the political punch as people amused by the captivating stories of catching the black money dragon start realising the ground situation.

This is precisely the reason for the Parliament to witness unprecedented political heat over the note ban. Perhaps, the Noble laureate Joseph Stiglitz, the celebrated author of ‘Globalisation and Its Discontents,’ would descend on India Gate to script Demonetisation and Its Discontents.

The unrest among the masses continues to simmer as they do not see a politician or a rich contractor in the queues before a bank or an ATM.

The India’s social and economic elite unperturbed by the cash chaos may be leveraging on their might to access liquidity.

The privileged few who already live in the world of digital money may have largely insulated themselves from the pinch of the cash crunch.

But, the daily wage earner, the unbanked and the under banked are frustrated by the unending woes. Empty political rhetoric or juicy stories of an economy free from sludge money cannot placate the hapless.

Even the ruling establishment seems to be worried about the political toll due to the collateral damage of the demonetisation decree.

The BJP MP From Porbandar, Vitthalbhai Hansrajbhai Radadiya, publicly criticised the Modi dispensation by stating that the rural economy collapsed due to demonetisation.

This is an early indication of how the own party men driven by the visible reality are upset with the government handling of logistics of distribution and exchange of currency.

The utter display of economic illiteracy by the monetary authorities and their political bosses obviously surprises everyone.

More surprisingly, there is no action on the middlemen capitalising on the scarcity of cash. There is no regulation of open gold trade at inflated rates to facilitate the transactions with currency notes declared as illegal tender.

The nation watches the spectacle of even the Jan Dhan accounts suddenly flush with ‘anonymous’ deposits.

Someone holding legitimate money finds it hard to get cash for a marriage to be performed despite RBI guidelines. But, a mining baron finds no hitch to perform one of the most extravagant weddings ever.

It beggars belief that the demonetisation would put an end to the black economy or counterfeit currency. Yet, the common people are asked to tighten their belts.