AIBEA to review cooperation to government

By Raaghav G R

Posted on November 16, 2016

In a shocking announcement, the All India Bank Employees Association said that it will be forced to review the cooperation it is currently extending to the government of India on its demonetization efforts, if the bank employees are subjected to further stress from the by the government. This announcement comes in the wake of The Government of India announcing on Tuesday, that people who have exchanged their demonetized currency notes in banks will get an indelible ink mark imprinted on their thumbs. “I may have to review the cooperation extended to the demonetization efforts, if the employees are put to undue stress and difficulty. There is a limit to elasticity”, C.H. Venkatachalam, General Secretary at All India Bank Employees’ Association (AIBEA) told on Tuesday. “Further, there will be a circus within the bank branches if the government implements the idea of indelible ink on people exchanging the invalid 500 and 1,000 rupee notes”, he added. “The government can also have a ballot box inside the bank branches”, another banker quipped. Read more on Black Money

Venkatachalam opined that there should be software/technological solution rather than the indelible ink. “The technological solution should be such that once the data is fed into a bank branch system it should get reflected in the systems of all other bank branches’ computer terminals”, he said. According to him, the central government has asked Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) to instruct member banks to deploy staff on shift basis if banks have to function longer hours. The government has also requested the IBA to install additional computers and hire retired bankers to ease the situation! Venkatachalam also said that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the central government should ensure sufficient supply of valid currency notes so that people can exchange their old notes. Officials at public sector banks also wondered how private banks had enough cash with them when public sector banks were struggling to get the new currency notes from the government.

C.H. Venkatachalam has a valid point. If people are imprinted with indelible ink after they make deposits or exchange their money in banks, it will only create a ruckus in banks. People will argue that the ink was imprinted on them the day before and that they have come to exchange money for that day. The government’s intention is good. If there is a limit to the number of exchanges or deposits you can make in banks in a day, it will lessen the queues at banks. But this solution has to be implemented through computerized database systems. Like Mr. Venkatachalam said, if a database record is created for a person depositing or exchanging money in one bank in a day, it has to reflect in the systems of all the banks he or she has an account in. This will effectively reduce queue at banks. But it will also create hardships for those who want to withdraw more than Rs. 4000 per day. The government of India has to think up an effective solution to this problem, although there is already a provision that you can withdraw upto Rs. 25 lakhs for marriages by writing a letter to the Superintendent of Police (SP) of your state and getting his or her sign on your letter. Of course the SP verifies your claim by verifying with the members of the families of the groom and the bride. Read more on Startup News

AIBEA to review cooperation to government