Now, PM shares a film on note ban

A 7-minute movie, which starts with “widespread corruption’’ in the UPA regime, takes the audience straight to the theme of demonetisation with a clip of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s announcement last year on November 8. The voiceover in Hindi narrates the revolutionary step that the PM took and its many benefits in fighting corruption and black money. 

Since Wednesday morning when the PM shared the film, Notebandi: Gareebo Ke Liye, Imaandaaro Ke Saath (noteban: for the poor, with the honest) on his Twitter handle and the app, it got retweeted almost 14,000 times and liked 28,000 times till late evening. Comparisons made with Mahabharata’s Arjun and his clear focus found resonance on the micro-blogging site, a source pointed out.    

  

There were other films too celebrating the PM and his decision to ban the high currency notes last November. Ministers, bureaucrats and other government portals such as mygov.in shared all that and more through the day. The Centre called it anti-black money day and the Opposition termed it black day.

The PM’s message was, ‘’125 crore Indians fought a decisive battle and WON’’. He added, ‘’I bow to the people of India for steadfastly supporting the several measures taken by the government to eradicate corruption and black money.’’ 

  

In fact, the demonetisation anniversary has been building up on PM’s Twitter account, bit by bit. However, the Prime Minister’s Office did not give out any official statement on note ban. In the run-up to the D-day, the PM has explained the benefits of the decision on the economy, including deposits, savings and even home prices through a series of infographics. One of these said the number of new taxpayers had increased by nearly 27 per cent to 8.42 million. 

The other significant indicators in the PM’s infographics included 58 per cent rise in digital transactions, with nearly 1.3 million new point of sale machines added in the past one year. He said 224,000 shell companies had been struck off and that demonetisation had contributed to stone pelting incidents coming down by 75 per cent from last year, and incidents of left-wing extremism decreasing by 20 per cent.

PMSPEAK

• 27% increase in taxpayers to 8.42 million

• 58% rise in digital transactions

• 1.3 mn point-of-sale machines added in the past one year

• 224,000 shell companies struck off 

• 75% decline in stone pelting incidents from last year

• 20% decline in incidents of left-wing extremism 

• Real estate prices have come down significantly  

• 100 basis points decline in lending rates