Letter to BS: The purpose of introducing Rs 2000 notes has gone astray

This is with reference to “Govt to probe suspected hoarding of Rs 2,000 notes, cash withdrawal spike” (April 19), it’s really intriguing to learn that the government of the day has taken so long to order a probe into the suspected hoarding of Rs 2,000 notes and an unusual spurt in cash withdrawal that has taken place in some states like Bihar, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka among a few others. It goes without saying that the very purpose of the government proudly introducing the Rs 2,000 notes after demonetisation has largely gone astray. It may be recalled that the government had publicly claimed that these notes could never be faked, thanks to their built-in security mechanism. The same were also expected to contain the Pakistan sponsored terrorism in Jammu & Kashmir. The actual position is highly worrisome.

Interestingly, there reports indicating that Rs 2,000 notes may become a thing of the past and the newly designed currency notes of Rs 1,000 may make a come back. Such a move could obviously help resolve the extant hoarding problem of Rs 2,000 notes. But the government should not put any embargo on the “redeposit” thereof with the commercial banks. Further, the government and the Reserve Bank of India should urgently act in close coordination to properly address the issue of a large number of non- operational ATMs across the nation. Such a situation does not augur well for their images. 

S K Gupta 

New Delhi