Halfway through we were informed that the reason was neither black money nor terrorism. It was to take India towards digital payments. And of course, in case you missed it, there had been those ads of the Prime Minister of India modelling for a digital payment platform. All a coincidence of course. Scrub those evil thoughts from your mind.Why do we cry now that this Modi government does not care about those who suffered and died from Covid? They felt nothing as millions of Indians scrambled after demonetisation. Instead, they congratulated themselves then – as they do now – on the great job they had done in destroying millions of small businesses and livelihoods.Why take 1000 rupee notes out of circulation if you want to stop illegal hoarding, and replace them with easier to store Rs 2000 notes? Why change the size of all notes when it meant all ATMs had to be reconfigured? It is another matter that many idiots – including my colleagues in the media – concocted absurd nonsense about currency notes fitted with GPS tracking chips and so on.On a personal note, my family spent a lot of time in hospital a month after November 8 and it was traumatic to watch families of patients frantically trying to organise medical care without access to money. We had to pay for my mother’s funeral with borrowed money. No crematorium in Dehradun at the time accepted digital payments. Do they do so now? The pain you feel at the loss of a loved one is still compounded by the horror of the time.
Source link
