Letters: Strange move

This refers to the article, “Demonetisation trumps all else” by Jaimini Bhagwati (November 17). 

While addressing Parliament on December 9, 1998, then finance minister Yashwant Sinha was certain that lawmakers would share his view that the root cause of illegal transactions lay not in notes of high denomination, but “elsewhere”. With cashless modes of payment yet to take root in the country and purchasing power of rupee declining, he cited the need for notes of higher face value, in public interest, for normal cash transactions. It is surprising that without any reasonable rigorous reasoning, nearly two decades later, a government of the same party (Bharatiya Janata Party) has found resonance with the views it was opposing while in the Opposition. 

It is a common understanding that no individual would be willing to jeopardise his ill-gotten earnings by keeping them in the form of currency for long. Therefore, the very idea that “black money” is held in the form of notes tucked away in suitcases or hidden under mattresses sounds naive. Even those who are caught sleeping will have the opportunity to barter notes through paid agents for which explanations cannot be reasonably sought. It is time the government re-calibrated its response to fight the menace of black money and “cleanse” the economy of its blots. By directing the state machinery indiscriminately in a perverse equality and imposing hardships on all for the perfidy of a few, it is slowly setting the stage for the return of sinister days of 1970s when tax terrorism was the reigning currency of governance.

Shreyans Jain, New Delhi

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