Demonetisation anniversary: People saw Govt's intention, says Sitharaman

On the first anniversary of demonetisation, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday said that the common people have seen the intention of the government and supported the move by putting up with the difficulties they had to face.

"The objective with which demonetisation was brought, the common people have seen the intention of the government and supported it by putting up with the difficulties they had to face," Sitharaman told media.

The union minister further said the government has revealed the data that has shown the effect of demonetisation.

"We have given our data on the effect of demonetisation in various aspects whether it is containing counterfeit currency, whether it is bringing back black money; whether it is squeezing out the money that has been stacked, not being brought into circulation; whether it is identifying bogus companies, who till then had negative transactions and post demonetisation brought in money, which has been lying somewhere and try to make it white and whether it is stopping terror funding through high denomination notes," Sitharaman asserted.

Sitharaman also said she was willing to answer all queries of those disputing the move.

Earlier in the day, the defence minister also said that the move to scrap high-value currency notes choked flow of funds to the terrorists and reduced stone-pelting incidents in the Jammu and Kashmir.

"The biggest achievement of demonetisation is that terrorism has been badly hit and the stone pelters, which were in thousands, have been reduced because their cash flow was cut," Sitharaman said.

The defence minister also attended a signature campaign organised by Tamil Nadu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Youth Wing here to observe the Anti Black Money Day.

On November 8, 2016, the Centre declared Rs. 500 and Rs. 1000 notes as illegal and introduced new Rs. 500 and Rs. 2000 notes.