Dr. Manmohan Singh says demonetization mismanaged

By Raaghav G R

Posted on November 24, 2016

The Honorable Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi attended the parliamentary session in Rajya Sabha today afternoon in the wake of the reputed economist, Dr. Manmohan Singh terming the handling of the demonetization as a monumental mismanagement! “I do not disagree with these objectives, but there is a monumental mismanagement of which there are no two opinions in the country as a whole”, said Dr. Manmohan Singh. Ironically his scam – hit Congress government was decisively defeated in the 2014 election, by the BJP led NDA alliance. Dr. Manmohan Singh said that while he cannot presume to know ‘the final outcome of the demonetization move’, he said that the agricultural and industrial growth in the country will be dented because of the demonetization and that the GDP will drop by 2%. “This is an underestimate and not an overestimate”, he said. Read more on PM Modi

Ever since the winter session of the parliament began on Monday this week, opposition parties have strongly criticized the government for failing to anticipate the shortage of cash that would take place. Opposition leaders till today have demanded that PM Narendra Modi give an explanation to the move as well as to the inconvenience caused by it, while the government has maintained that the Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley, would answer on behalf of the government. The BJP explained that because of the demonetization move, U.S. $88 billion worth of cash have been deposited in all the banks so far and that the government was putting in the best effort to fill all ATMs in the country with the new Rs. 500 and Rs. 2000 notes. The BJP further explained that ‘serpentine queues’ which were seen outside ATMs and banks, when the demonetization move was first announced had considerably reduced now.

While the ATMs and banks in the city are now recovering, the villages of India are the ones who are still suffering and are the ones who were hit hardest by the demonetization move. The villages in India have limited or no access to banking facilities. If the banks go short on cash, it could become a serious problem, now that farmers across India are sowing the winter crop. The BJP countered this criticism made by the opposition parties by stating that it had already dispensed Rs. 21,000 crores to the state – lender, NABARD, to give to the farmers of India as loans. The government also said that while industrial and agricultural growth of the country would slow down this quarter, it would compensate for the decline by relaxing investment norms for investors. Dr. Manmohan Singh’s last attack was this, “The PM has said wait 50 days, it is a short period, but for the poor and deprived, even 50 days can bring about disastrous effects”. He also stated that the frequent revisal of withdrawal amount limit reflected poorly on the PM’s and Finance minister’s office as well as on the RBI. Dr. Manmohan Singh’s speech was preceded by sparring between the BJP and the opposition parties and Arun Jaitley’s statement that the PM, Narendra Modi, should only give his comments once the debate was formally initiated in the parliament.

After hearing the charges of the opposition parties and BJP’s explanation. One cannot help but take the side of the BJP. The serpentine queues which had formed outside ATMs and banks, when the demonetization move was first announced have now drastically reduced in size. The cash crunch in the banks in villages of India is also now being addressed, with the government dispensing Rs. 21,000 crores to NABARD to give as loans to farmers who want to sow the winter crop. Manmohan Singh’s last argument that fifty days is too much time for the poor to wait is also highly irresponsible. Poverty itself was created in India because of black money and no government in the world can retrieve black money in less than fifty days, especially in a populous country like India. PM Modi is also planning to take steps to curb black property, something that opposition parties criticized, could not be done by the current demonetization move. The government plans to launch a scheme call E – Property Passport Book where:

• For one year all properties in India are invalid.
• You cannot buy or sell property until you register your property in EPPB.
• EPPB will be linked with your PAN and Aadhar number online.
• Owner of the property has to report to the Sub – Registrar office, with ID and address proof, where special officers would enter the property details in EPPB.
• Once registered in EPPB, property will truly become yours!
• They will have a special counter for emergency sellers, mortgagers and buyers, who can exchange properties but only with complete documents related to their properties.
• Upto 31^st of March, 2018, properties can be registered in EPPB, post which (from 1/4/2018) government will take over properties not entered in the EPPB.

This is truly a surgical strike on black property. Please support Narendra Modi Ji in his fight against black money and black property. Read more on Startup News

Dr. Manmohan Singh says demonetization mismanaged