Is demonetisation a good step or bad step can only be seen after at least two years. That the measure demanded complete secrecy is also a fact.
Other facts are, it did put lot of people in lot of inconvenience. May it be traders, farmers, parents having marriage of their children or common man on the street. But it is also a fact that given size of roll out of new Rs 2000 and Rs 500 notes, this inconvenience was a necessary evil that had to be gone through.
Granted that rural areas are the worst sufferers because of sheer fact that logistics involved in getting new currency to those places is phenomenal.
All the above explained and accepted, one fact does not add up. That fact is huge crowds at Bank branches and ATMs at Delhi and Delhi alone.
For about a week, all bank branches and ATMs across the nation saw huge queues. All the measures being taken have shown results with recalibration of ATMs and increased money supply, particularly true for big cities. Those queues in the cities (at least in Mumbai where I stay) are thinning down with each passing day.
Delhi, if one believes the news channels, seems only exception. For unexplained reasons the queues seem to be either constant or increasing in this city.
Only two possibilities. One, it may be because while all big cities believed in combination of banked and cash dealings, this city dealt with only cash. The other reason could be that these queues are specifically designed to show the length of the queue when TV crew is around or when some politicians visit the bank branch or ATM. These crowds either gather looking at TV crew or politicians or they are created for these specific events.
I am not trying to belittle the misery of people but the queues at Banks and ATMs which have remained unchanged (at least those which are filmed by TV Crews, etc) defy explaination.
Other facts are, it did put lot of people in lot of inconvenience. May it be traders, farmers, parents having marriage of their children or common man on the street. But it is also a fact that given size of roll out of new Rs 2000 and Rs 500 notes, this inconvenience was a necessary evil that had to be gone through.
Granted that rural areas are the worst sufferers because of sheer fact that logistics involved in getting new currency to those places is phenomenal.
All the above explained and accepted, one fact does not add up. That fact is huge crowds at Bank branches and ATMs at Delhi and Delhi alone.
For about a week, all bank branches and ATMs across the nation saw huge queues. All the measures being taken have shown results with recalibration of ATMs and increased money supply, particularly true for big cities. Those queues in the cities (at least in Mumbai where I stay) are thinning down with each passing day.
Delhi, if one believes the news channels, seems only exception. For unexplained reasons the queues seem to be either constant or increasing in this city.
Only two possibilities. One, it may be because while all big cities believed in combination of banked and cash dealings, this city dealt with only cash. The other reason could be that these queues are specifically designed to show the length of the queue when TV crew is around or when some politicians visit the bank branch or ATM. These crowds either gather looking at TV crew or politicians or they are created for these specific events.
I am not trying to belittle the misery of people but the queues at Banks and ATMs which have remained unchanged (at least those which are filmed by TV Crews, etc) defy explaination.
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