Demonetization and Me

I hardly talk politics but when something becomes too much unbearable to hear I don’t stop myself. Okay so today, I want to write about demonetization that is bleeding out on news channels 24X7. So since the moment Mr. P.M, Narendra Modi, made his statement on 8th November 2016, ceasing the usage of ₹1000.00 and ₹500.00 notes, the finance turmoil started.

I am a sit at home mother and novelist. My interaction with the financial transaction on daily basis is limited to the greengrocer, milkman, maid, newspaper man, mobiles bill and petty transaction here and there. So, did this decision really affect me. Yes, it did but not in a very big way because I have been using the online banking since long. And moreover limiting my cash transaction a little per day helped me take in the pressure.

However, I am not writing this to talk about my experience due to this decision which I believe is for the benefit of our country. I strongly support this decision and in the leadership of our Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi. Because when someone, who has nothing to lose, takes a stand it means it is for the best for the rest of us. And I have a blind faith in the goal that he is trying to show us to achieve.

The day after this decision was my bill payment day. I had to pay my monthly bills to all including my maid. My maid is a local who lives in the nearby urban slums and leads a very happy life with her grandchildren. She is not literate and recognizes things by symbols. She can’t even count the money I pay her as salary but shows her faith that I shall never cheat on her.

Like me, there are few more people she believes in and one of them is the “Kamal” symbol, the B.J.P logo. She hates the “Panja”, the congess logo because they have not fulfilled their promise which they had sworn they will when they came to beg for a vote. So even if she is illiterate she understands the game of dirty politics.

Here is what she has to say on demonetization.

“A few young men, are being asked by the rich showroom owners of our locality to deposit their black money in their account and turn it into white money before returning it to them. They work in the showroom and hence had no choice but to do it if they didn’t want to lose their job.”

Then after I heard on the news channel that laborers are returning home because there is no work for them in the big cities. It is no cash flow actually because of which they were losing jobs.

Is it?? I don’t think so. Most of the people who returned back to their village had no back accounts in the city. So that means their identity was of no use to the big shots who were using the accounts of the laborers to change their black money into white.

In my opinion, moving homewards always increases the chances of survival for any person. When I penned my first novel, Shamsuddin’s Grave, I had to research a lot because the theme of my book was illegal migrations. Shamsuddin, a daily wager, had come to the city of Guwahati in search of livelihood. What happened next were facts that mostly remain hidden from the people. It really ached my heart to see the fate of these people.

Demonetization led to homewards was, therefore, a very happy news for me. Maybe they get to eat one roti less but at least the family is together. I would like to question the government and officials at the state level and district level as to why they were unable to take the responsibility for this plight of the men and increase the opportunities for employment in the small cities and villages in their state. So that nobody has to leave the family behind to earn bread and butter in the metros. Eventually, this will yield good results for the locals of the big cities too as their share in the city will increase and they don’t have to squeeze in anymore to give room to others coming from outside.

Another good point I noticed in the news which I had also highlighted in my book too was the child trafficking. Demonetization had shown a considerable decline in the trafficking trade as well. This was also confirmed by the senior member of the NGO, Bachpan Bachao Andolan Mr. Rakesh Senger. As a developing country, how many more proof we need to show that this step is indeed a remarkable step taken in making India a truly developed country in few years.

The media might be talking at length about the plight of Aam Aadmi due to this decision for they don’t hesitate to show the long queue outside the banks or people dying because of not able to withdraw money from their bank. But we know the truth that just for few corrupt bank officials and black money holders we are suffering.  However, there are few questions still which I am not happy with and I shall surely take them into consideration in my next article.