Demonetisation Committees Aplenty, But No Solutions in Sight

The new committee will include non-NDA members, with Nitish Kumar and Naveen Patnaik to be the likely choices.

In order to build a political consensus on demonetisation, the central government is looking to form sub-committees to look into the matter. (Photo: PTI)

On 8 November, the country went into a frenzy as the government announced demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes, to take effect from midnight of 9 November. Since then, the government has been formulating new rules and new committees everyday to overcome the inconvenience caused to the public, all the while facing scathing attacks from the opposition.

However, all this has not yet resulted in any relief to the public as they continue to line up in long queues outside banks and ATMs.

N Chandrababu Naidu, Chief Minister, Andhra Pradesh will chair the committee. (Photo: Reuters)

In order to build a political consensus on the issue, the central government is looking to formulate a sub-committee chaired by Chief Ministers of five states. According to sources, this sub-committee will assess the situation and give their suggestions.

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Moreover, to showcase the unity among the states, the sub-committee will also comprise of CMs from the South and the North-East, along with CMs from the opposition parties. But the main concern remains, how would they implement their suggestions?

The Centre has elected Chandra Babu Naidu, Andhra Pradesh CM, to chair this committee. Naidu’s party, Telugu Desam Party, is in coalition with the NDA. On Monday, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley discussed this matter with Naidu.

The committee will also include non-NDA members, with Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik the likely choices. Interestingly, both Nitish Kumar and Naveen Patnaik have supported demonetisation and if sources are to be believed, Arun Jaitley has already taken both of them into confidence. This comes within days of news of the growing proximity between the BJP and Nitish Kumar.

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Puducherry Chief Minister V Narayanaswamy is also in contention to be a part of this committee. However, sources say, Narayanaswamy has not yet given his consent, even after being approached. Naveen Patnaik too has not given his approval. From the Leftist front, Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar and Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan are being considered. Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh is also a likely candidate.

The government has formed many such committees in the past on demonetisation and digital payment, but with no success.

Below are a few examples of these stalled committees:

Amitabh Kant Committee

With a view to transforming India into a cashless economy, the Centre formed a committee headed by Amitabh Kant, CEO of NITI Aayog on 25 November. The committee was to find ways to make cashless transactions easily accessible.

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On the direction of the Prime Minister's Office, Ravi Shankar Prasad and Piyush Goyal formulated the committee, which comprised of Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology Aruna Sundararajan, Department of Investment and Public Asset Management Neeraj Kumar Gupta, along with Kant. However, no deadline was ever given for submitting the report.

Anil Khachi Committee

On 24 November, after a meeting with heads of banks (including private sector), Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said a committee under Additional Secretary in the Finance Ministry was being set up to promote digital banking. For this, a task force was set up under Anil Kumar Khachi, Additional Secretary in the Department of Financial Services. Moreover, the committee was also to look for solutions in making transactions digital.

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Ratan Watal Committee

On 26 August, the centre formed a committee under the supervision of Chief policy advisor, NITI Aayog and former finance secretary Ratan Watal. The aim of this 11-member committee was to suggest to the Centre ways to promote digital payment cards. These may include concessions in income tax and lucrative cash backs. The committee was also asked to formulate a policy in the formation of a KYC committee. Although this committee was formed before 8 November, the intention is clear now. The committee submitted an interim report to the government on Monday.

Opposition Demands Joint Parliamentary Committee to Probe

However, the opposition is accusing the government of a major scandal behind demonetisation, and is demanding a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) to probe it. An opposition leader demanded the government form a JPC alongside all the committee they are forming to bring relief to the people. He added that this might result in some actual work in the parliament, after being stalled for almost two weeks.

(The article was originally published in Quint Hindi)

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