leave the politics alone. The Government’s decision to demonetise and withdraw Rs500 and Rs1,000 denomination notes, has resulted in a windfall collection for various civic bodies. The money can be used to enhance amenities
let us first look at some statistics. last month on November 8, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced demonetisation of Rs500 and 1,000 notes. By just one stroke, the country changed. Revenue of municipal corporations of five major cosmopolitan towns made quantum jump in the month of November 2016, compared to revenue of 2015.
Hyederabad registered a jump of 2,500 per cent, North Delhi Municipal Corporation revenue increased by 2,434 percent, Rajkot by 1,275 per cent, Surat by 2,314 per cent and South Delhi by 2,037 per cent.
There was a huge jump in the collection of dues for power, water, telephone and land revenue. Take it that, it was due to demonetisation of high value currency notes. This is just the beginning. Wait for some time to see how the country is making move towards a cashless society, which is a big assault on ‘black money’.
Now, let us look at its political fallout. After Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar supporting Modi in the fight against corruption, and black money, it is now the turn of RJD chief lalu Prasad, who too has come out in support of demonetisation. With some ange,r lalu said, “I am also in favour of notebandi , but my objection is to its implementation”. lalu was compelled to come out in support of demonetisation, because opposing it, would have threatened the ruling alliance in Bihar. The Congress now is isolated in Bihar on this issue.
Chandrababu Naidu of Andhra Pradesh, and Chandra Shekhar Rao of Telangana, both Chief Ministers of their respective States, have supported the Government decision. Naveen Patnaik, Chief Minister of Odisha, has come out in favour of the move. In Kerala, the CPI(M) Government is opposed to the move, but not as aggressively as its central leadership of the party.
The outcome of 12 by-elections held last month, after demonetisation, is also a signal of people’s support to the move. The Congress had to contend with a win of only one seat. The BJP won five seats, while regional parties got six seats — taken together, the Assembly , and lok Sabha constituencies.
This decision of Prime Minister Modi has placed the nation on the fast track of cashless transactions. After the demonetisation, according to one estimate, online transactions have risen by 300 per cent.
No doubt, the move has resulted in long queues of people, that can be seen outside ATMs and banks. There is anxiety, and some anguish on the face of people, who have to wait for long hours to get cash, but there is also a faint smile on their face indicating that common man, and majority of the people want era of corruption, and generation of black money to end.
Even Mayawati is not mustering enough courage to oppose the move. She and many other opposition leaders find fault with the lack of preparedness, that is causing hardships to people in getting cash from banks and ATMs. But, how could the Government make advance preparation for implementing the decisionIJ It would have defeated the purpose of the demonetisation.
By each passing day, the queues are getting shorter. Beside the point, the process of digitisation in cash transaction is on fast track. The online, and cashless, transactions would increase in three months that the country would have achieved in three years, had this decision not been taken.
The total number of debit cards in November 2015 was Rs62.36 crore. This figure has now gone up to Rs90 crore. Even Nandan Nilekani, the man behind Aadhar card identification, has openly come out in support of the Government move towards cashless transactions.
We have already created a base for this types of transformation, by having large base of smart, and android mobile phones sets with the people. There is also feature phone users for online payment by using the unified payment interface application.
Those who don’t have mobile phones, can use their Aadhar cards in micro-ATMs for making payments. Milk and vegetable vendors, and even small grocers, have started accepting online payments.
The day is not far off, when our country would go cashless transaction, and paperless work. What is needed is to implement this policy. A determined leadership with firm conviction which our Prime Minister has is taking the nation forward.
By the year 2024-2025, all citizens of the country would have smart phones. Those opposed to cashless transactions say that countries like Sweden, Canada and Britain have a small population base with cent per cent literacy, hence cashless transactions are possible.
Some people are hell-bent upon criticising, and opposing the Government decision on social media. But it is not going to impact the nation.
(The writer is a member of Rajya Sabha)