Was Demonetisation Pain Worth It? The Commoners Don’t Think So

Large companies and bankers, employees and customers – everybody has vented their anger at demonetisation.

(Clockwise) Sathi Bai died from illness shortly after discovering Rs 4 lakh she had in cash was no longer legal tender; Subramaniam died of a heart attack in a bank in Thanjavur; army veteran Nand Lal crying after three days of visiting the bank to withdraw pension money.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

Large companies and bankers, employees and customers, as well as small and medium enterprises, have all vented their anger at demonetisation announced by the Central government on November 8 last year.

Though they’re the ones who’ve felt the most amount of pain of money becoming scarce, and their way of life being shaken to the core, the common man and woman have not been heard enough.

The Cost of Demonetisation

Over a hundred persons died in the queues that followed 8 November 2016.

One such man was Saud-ur-Rahman, a 48-year-old poster designer in central Delhi. Standing in a bank queue for the third day in a row, from early morning till late afternoon, he suffered a massive heart attack, and was brought dead to the hospital by his friend.

"Our child has gone. We couldn't speak to him one last time. Why would I want to speak about him to others?" his 70-year old father, Ahmed Rahman, told IANS before shutting the door and cutting off any more queries.

The pain felt by the father was as real today as it was a year ago.

Shiraj Ahmed, the friend who took him to the hospital, said that no one from the ruling party came to express condolences or offer an apology. 

Shiraj had given Saud some money and told him not to go, perhaps sensing the desperate situation he was in, but Saud insisted he had to withdraw money or the family would not be able to make ends meet. In many cities, people recalled the harrowing time they underwent to withdraw their hard-earned money, day after day.

Also Read: Deaths After Demonetisation: Chaos Claims 18 Lives in Five Days

"The dividend of the hardship we faced was expected to be moral. But, one year down the line, what we got as retired persons is receding interest income," said retired central government employee Bankim Chandra Roy, a resident of West Bengal's Hooghly district.

I had to go to the branch four to five times to convert about Rs 10,000 of demonetised notes; one day, I fell and injured my head. I used to draw my pension in the first week of the month. But after demonetisation, I just could not draw my pension and really had to struggle to manage family expenses.

Bankim Chandra Roy, resident, Hooghly 

For a large number of working men and women, it was a loss of income as they stood in serpentine queues at banks to exchange their old currency notes for new ones.

"It was as if somebody had suddenly snatched all my money. I had to struggle to get even Rs 4,000 in new currency from my bank to buy essentials," recalls Damodar Reddy, a pensioner in Hyderabad.

Also Read: Dear PM Modi, Demonetisation Worked But Could Have Spared the Poor

"People had to face hardships, especially those who were not tech-savvy, and relied on cash for their daily transactions," Aashish Joshi, a chartered accountant, told IANS.

He wondered why so many had to go through so much pain. "It was believed that the dramatic move would have positive impact and the so-called black money would be cut back. But statistics released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) show that 99 percent of the demonetised currency came back into the system," Joshi said, wondering whether the pain was worth it.

Also Read: What’s the Verdict on Demonetisation Data? Q&A With Raghav Bahl

Anne Bangera, a 71-year-old retired teacher based in Mangaluru, recalls the demonetisation period being particularly painful as all her pension savings were held in cash.

It shook me, as it meant all the money I had saved was of no value any more. I have to make monthly visits to the hospital for my health, but, I no longer had any valid money. For the old and the weak, demonetisation was very difficult, as it just left us helpless.

Anne Bangera, retired teacher based in Mangaluru

An arthritis patient, Bangera lives alone at her home. She adds, "With bad knees, standing in those queues was particularly painful and I had to make several trips to the bank to deposit my old currency in return for the new notes.”

Also Read: Woman Dies, Leaving Behind Demonetised Notes Worth Rs 4 Lakh

Earning a Livelihood Becomes a Challenge

Kailash Sharma, a resident of South Extension in Delhi, said that going to the banks became a family affair. "My father, mother, and me stood in queues for over seven hours each day, since one person could withdraw only Rs 4,000."

Sharma mentioned that exchanging the cash at home became a highly-challenging task for them.

Rahul Chauhan, who runs a car garage in Kamla Nagar, North Delhi, said that for many days they were left with no money, even to pay the workers – many of whom started staying away. “I spent many nights standing in the queues, and then the customers did not turn up to claim their vehicles since they couldn’t pay cash,” Chauhan said.

Also Read: Dear PM Modi, Demonetisation Worked But Could Have Spared the Poor

Self-employed young men did not know how to manage for several weeks. Twenty-seven-year-old Prashanth K (name changed on request), a wedding photographer in Bengaluru, said many weddings in the state turned low-key after November 8 last year. "All the money saved for weddings had become worthless and had to be exchanged. Even the withdrawal limit – which was raised to Rs 2.5 lakh for weddings – was useless because of the conditions attached," he said.

The result: "I had to spend many hours of each week in bank queues trying to exchange old Rs 500 notes I was paid." He could not refuse old currency as business would have vanished, although he did reduce his assignments.

For several months, the photography business remained dull, despite the wedding season, he said.

Small start-ups, often lacking deep pockets, were no better off. Adnigam Private Limited, a hyperlocal marketplace launched only six months before demonetisation, was nearly knocked out of business.

Its USP was same-day delivery in and around Hyderabad, but it was forced to retrench staff and cut operational and overhead costs. Raji Reddy Kesireddy, founder and CEO of Adnigam, said there were days when they had no orders. “From a spacious office in Ameerpet, we had to move to a small premises in Begumpet.” 

The situation was exploited by touts who suddenly sprouted up everywhere.

D Saraswati, a worker in a private school in Hyderabad, recalls that she had to part with Rs 300 to exchange each Rs 1,000 note. "Had I stood in a queue, my employer would have deducted a day's salary and still there was no guarantee that I would get the money. I had no other option," she said.

The pain was spread across the country for several weeks and months, but no one is sure today whether all the sacrifices by the common man and woman resulted in any real benefit.

They look askance at the government, which has few answers.

(Published in arrangement with IANS)

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