Geetanjali Krishna: The little 'demons' of demonetisation

Thanks to demonetisation, as month-end approaches, I’m trying to see how best to make all those pesky cash payments by other means. The first thing I did a couple of days ago, was talk to the two house helps about giving them their salaries by cheque, some days early so that the money would be in their account on December 1. Quite predictably, my statement wasn’t met with an all-round enthusiasm. 

“I don't have the time to stand in the queue in the bank, either to deposit or withdraw money,” Kaushalya grumbled. She said, rather aptly, I thought, that ‘demons’ had wreaked havoc with her household budget and asked me for a raise. “My husband, a freelance carpenter, has not found any work since November 8,” said she. Suchitra, the housekeeper, was sanguine. “You can pay me any which way you like,” she said, “as long as you help me do it.” It turned out that she had a zero balance account which had remained true to its name and never had any balance in it. “My husband and I usually spend whatever we earn, and send the little we save to his family in the village,” she said. They were not, sadly, eligible for any government subsidies or pensions which are now being deposited directly into bank accounts. “So this will be the first time that my bank account will see any money,” she said.   

I told her it was easy; all she needed to do to deposit a cheque in her account, was to fill out a form… and then fill out another form whenever she needed to withdraw money. She reminded me that she was illiterate. “All I can do is sign,” she said. So we agreed that I’d fill out her forms whenever she needed. The form was obtained eventually, I filled it out, and hopefully, in the next few days, the amount will reflect in her account. 

“How does it feel to use your bank account finally?” Kaushalya asked Suchitra. She thought about it for some time. “In some ways, it does feel good to be part of an initiative to root out black money in the country,” she said. “But I feel insecure about having no money in my hands.” Both the women began to list out all the things they needed to have cash in hand for. “Mobile recharge, rent, the small offering I make at the temple every Tuesday — I’ll need cash for all this and more,” said Kaushalya. “Vegetables, medicine for my baby, rickshaws,” enumerated Suchitra. “I’ll have to withdraw all my salary after depositing it to pay for these things.”

Both the women talked quietly for a while, and then returned to me. Suchitra asked, “Can you explain to us how the country benefits by making people like me, who’ll probably never earn enough to pay income tax, go to the bank? Surely we aren’t part of the black economy they’re talking about.” I thought about it long and hard, but failed to come up with a satisfactory answer. What is the government trying to achieve by forcibly changing the financial habits of women like Suchitra and Kaushalya who have household incomes of Rs 10-15,000 per month?

“That’s why I would like to be paid in cash, as always,” said Kaushalya, clearly a big critic of demonetisation. “I think the only thing we’re going to gain through all this is the prospect of unemployment, a further shrinking of our already pitiful wallets and the inconvenience of bank queues.” I sighed, thinking of the line at the bank I’d have to brave for Kaushalya, and the many other little 'demons’ of demonetisation that are going to nip away at our patience in the months to come.