Ill timing of demonetisation led to inequality, unemployment, says Moily

Ahead of the Supreme Court taking up petitions challenging demonetisation, senior Congress leader M Veerappa Moily said the "ill-timed" decision had led to migration of labour and unemployment

Ahead of the Supreme Court taking up petitions challenging demonetisation, senior Congress leader M Veerappa Moily on Monday said the "ill-timed" decision had led to migration of labour, unemployment and added to the misery of the poor.

In a statement, Moily recalled that as the chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance, he had discussed the issue threadbare, but the report on demonetisation could not be adopted by the panel due to opposition from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) members.

The apex court is set to hear a bunch of petitions challenging the demonetisation exercise of 2016, when the government had scrapped Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes on October 12.

Moily also voiced concern over the "rising inequality" and the "fall in employment" in the country.

The former Union minister referred to the World Inequality Report of 2022, which claims that India was among the most unequal countries across the globe with rising poverty and skyrocketing wealth of the affluent elite.

The report, released in March, was dismissed as "flawed" by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, who had also described the methodology used to compile it as "questionable".