This Pune Man May Have Advised Modi on Rs 500 & 1,000 Currency Ban

Arthakranti, a group of activists, has been campaigning for the scrapping of Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 denomination.

The country has gone into a tizzy since Tuesday night when Prime Minister Modi announced scrapping Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes as legal tender. Some are lauding the move as a “surgical strike” against corruption whereas, others aren’t happy with the chaos it has created.

While the announcement was a sudden one, its seed seems to have been sown long back.

Arthakranti, founded by Aurangabad-based activist and chartered accountant Anil Bokil, has been campaigning for the scrapping of Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 denomination for some time.

Bokil first met Modi in 2012 when he was Gujarat Chief Minister and he had assured Bokil of implementing his recommendations, according to Yamaji Malkar, trustee of Arthakranti.

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A group of activists from Maharashtra said they had campaigned for scrapping of high denomination notes and even written a letter to Prime Minister Modi on the issue as recently as 26 October.

The move is aimed at stamping out corruption and draining illicit cash from the economy.

Arthakranti on 26 October had sent a letter asking Prime Minister Narendra Modi to implement the demands of Arthkranti specially the scrapping of denominations. The Jan-Dhan yojana was also part of our demand and it has covered maximum population so far.

Yamaji Malkar, trustee of Arthakranti

"The denominations like Rs 500, Rs 1,000 and Rs 100 cover 95 percent value of Indian economy. The average daily income of common man is Rs 150; hence we argued that higher denomination notes are more used for stashing cash. It was more helpful for black-money generation than any use to the people," Malkar said.

In July this year, Bokil met the prime minister to discuss his ideas of curbing black money. Reports suggest that while he was given only eight minutes, he ended up discussing his plans with Modi for over two hours.

Bokil's proposal included other things too. His other recommendations included the withdrawal of the existing taxation system (barring import duties) and replacing it with a single-point transaction tax, to be deducted at source, and restricting cash transactions to Rs 2,000, which would not attract any tax.

(With inputs from PTI and Arthakranti.org)