Jaganmohan Reddy urges PM Modi to make demonetisation effective from April, 2017

The YSR Congress party chief said that the farmers were in a really pitiable condition post November 8, 2016

Opposition YSR Congress Party's President Jaganmohan Reddy on Wednesday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to make demonetisation of high value currency effective from April 1, 2017 to alleviate the hardships of ordinary people including farmers.

Reddy also requested the Prime Minister to constitute a committee with political parties and experts on ways to migrate small traders, unorganised sector, agriculture and the labour employed in various sectors to banking operations in a phased manner.

Justifying his suggestion to defer the demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes till the end of the current financial year, YSR Congress chief said that the black money can be traced even if it changes hands in the meantime.

"I reiterate that the best of the plans with best intentions will also fail if not implemented property. With the increase in the present ordeal of the common people in getting along with their day today activities I am forced to ink this letter to draw your kind attention for taking further steps in making life of common citizen better off than the worse what we are seeing," Jagan Reddy said in his six-page letter.

YSR Congress Party is the only opposition party having its presence in the Andhra Pradesh state legislature assembly though its strength had come down by 21 MLAs, as all of them had joined the ruling Telugu Desam Party over a period in the last couple of years.

Among other things, Reddy said that the farmers were in a really pitiable condition post November 8, 2016.

Only 40% of the small and marginal farmers have access to bank finance while the balance 60% are forced to depend on finances from rural money-lenders, who stopped funding them after demonetisation, according to him.

As transport providers were not accepting the demonetisation currency, the farmers were unable to sell their produce in the market while the middlemen were buying the small percentage of their produce at half the minimum support price (MSP), Reddy said.