India First

To DeMo or Not to DeMo – An Ordinary Indian’s Perspective 08 November 2016 will be remembered in independant India’s history for a long time. It was the day when a few hours before midnight, Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared the Indian rupee’s two largest denomination notes – 500 and 1000 – to be made invalid at midnight, with the 500 rupee note replaced with a new one and the 1000 rupee note to be discontinued altogether. Possibly intended for an international audience, it was the Prime Minister’s first address in English on Indian TV channels. This demonetisation of commonly used, high denomination notes would’ve sent shock waves to the sections of India’s business community preferring to conduct most of their transactions with unaccounted for cash. Not just them, the least well off sections of society were also put under great stress in subsequent months because their daily wages and day to day expenses were dependant entirely on cash. No survey had been carried out...