8/11/2016 – On the eve of the Great American Elections, the actual shock waves were echoed all throughout India. The notes, which to many just a few hours ago, were of utmost importance had  turned into worthless trash. I don’t think in the last few decades, such a giant shock-wave has been felt across the entire country.

Although I don’t reside in India and this economic chaos has no personal bearing on me,I felt I had to pen down my thoughts on the current economic scenario. I have spent much of my youth in India and considered myself a good, loyal Indian citizen. The democratic situation in India has been a much laughed about topic, which forms the central theme in many commercial Indian movies. The Indian population at large has not seen a society and people oriented government  for a very long time, showcasing very much that from goons to gangsters can rule over us. Still we don’t mind that as during the polls, we are hardly left with any choice. We are given the freedom of choosing the least evil of the lot.

But this time much to the anguish of the Indian society,the Government from which nothing much is expected, has actually done something- Something so great that it has made the life of a vast majority of the population miserable.No doubt black money has to be eradicated, but do we realize that even though we boast of being  the world’s second largest population, more than half of the Indian population lives below poverty line. When they live on bare hand to mouth expenses, how can we expect them to come out with a box full of black  money.

I didn’t realize that as I grew up, I had to look at the vegetable vendor, the maid and the laundry man as vicious owners of black money. Apparently those to whom the smallest of currencies was of great value would be considered punishable culprits. I have to agree that the law has to be altered to catch the people who handle black money but it need not be done in a way in which innocent  people are also targeted. The people who deal with black money are sleeping comfortably in their homes without any fear of losing a penny. If they have a deceitful mind to earn black money , then they have the capacity and influence to avoid the impetus of this money change.

The average Indian man, who works day in and day out to support his family, is spending hours each day to get a wee bit of his hard earned money back. To add to his plight, once he reaches the counter at the bank, he is informed that the bank has run out of cash making his all day long effort futile. Probably the motive of demonetization was right but the planning and execution has gone horribly wrong.

With news of deaths at labor, cancelled marriages, untreated patients at hospitals and an increasing number of deaths and suicides, the success rate of the plan can be easily calculated. We haven’t see our dearest PM standing in those huge queues to get a Rs 2000. And why should he? He has achieved something great by unifying such a vast and culturally diversified country as ours in distress and agony.

We cannot achieve a cashless economy without providing the most basic of necessities- EDUCATION. How can we expect a daily wage owner or a fish monger to, who can neither read or write to use a debit or credit card. Unlike foreign countries. the swiping machines are hardly available everywhere. If Modiji intended to create a cashless economy, he should have held educational camps and centers to help educate the masses and the unlettered.

WE need to touch deep into the ground if we need to reach great heights. A country which is crisscrossed by a  variety of cultures and languages, interlinked with respect and understanding has been debased to a great extent by the fall of the currency. Lets unite to rise again!

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