Skip to main content

Noteban triggered mass corruption, 75-82% Indians sold Rs 500 and 1000 notes for less than Rs 400 and 900: Survey

 
A civil society survey, carried out in January-February 2017, but released now, has revealed that only 24.3 percent of the respondents said that they were able to exchange their banned Rs 500 notes “for the same amount”, while 75 percent reported that “an old Rs 500 note was sold for Rs 400 or less in valid currency.”
Carried out by Act Now for Harmony and Democracy (ANHAD) in alliance with 32 people’s organizations spread out in 21 Indian states, and involving 3,647 respondents, the survey, seeking to ascertain the behaviour of the people during the demonetization or noteban period, November-December 2016, further pointed out that of those who said that they received Rs 400 or less amount for Rs 500 note, 51.3 percent reported it was exchanged for Rs 400, 12 reported they exchanged it for Rs 300, and 3.3 percent reported that the Rs 500 note was exchanged for as low as Rs 200.
Among the respondents, about 25 percent of respondents were students, 13.7 percent unemployed, 18 percent employed in private sector, 10 percent working as 'labour', 4.9 percent reported household work as their profession, 3.4 were in government job and 4.4 percent were involved in agriculture.
The percentage of those who reported 'Hindu' was 65.0 and 'Muslims' were about 27.0 percent – constituting together about 92 percent. There were about 3 percent of Christians and about 2 percent were Sikh. About 3 percent said that they do not follow any religion or said humanity is their religion.
Caste-wise distribution showed that about 37 percent belonged to the general category, 29 percent were SC/ST and 30.7 percent belonged to OBC. Then, 80 percent said they had access to television, 29 percent listened to radio, 50 percent read newspapers, and so on.
The report, which has been published in a new book, “Demonetization: Exorcising the ‘Demon’”, released to mark one year of the surprise Modi government announcement to withdraw from circulation Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes, said, “Region-wise distribution showed that this form of corruption was rampant in all the regions.”
Pointing out that the “industry to exchange old notes cropped up overnight across the country”, the report said, “The fate of the banned Rs 1,000 note was not very different”, adding, though, that here “the percentage of those who said that they exchanged their Rs 1,000 note for the same amount without any reduction was reduced to 17.4 percent.” 
The report said, “More than 82 percent of the respondents reported that in their locality, a Rs 1,000 note was sold for less than Rs 900”, adding, 40.7 percent respondents “reported that the note was sold for Rs 800” .
Then, “those who said they exchanged their note for Rs 700 were 9.2 percent, those who reported Rs 600 was the price of a Rs 1000 note were 4 percent, and 4.8 percent said that an old Rs 1,000 note was sold at as low as Rs 500.”
The report noted, “Region-wise distribution showed that more than 90 percent respondents witnessed reduction of cost of Rs 1,000 note in Central (98%) and Northern (91.4%) regions”, adding, astonishingly, “10.4 percent of the respondents said that in their locality a Rs 1,000 note was sold for as low as Rs 100.”
The report commented, “It is quite evident that the claim made by the Prime Minister that the objective of demonetization was to clean Indian economy of black money was hollow. Instead, a new channel for generating black money opened up." 
It added, "It can be concluded that a very large amount of legitimately earned money by the poor citizens was converted into black money. With one stroke the people's toil and labour was devalued.”

Comments

TRENDING

Dalit rights and political tensions: Why is Mevani at odds with Congress leadership?

While I have known Jignesh Mevani, one of the dozen-odd Congress MLAs from Gujarat, ever since my Gandhinagar days—when he was a young activist aligned with well-known human rights lawyer Mukul Sinha’s organisation, Jan Sangharsh Manch—he became famous following the July 2016 Una Dalit atrocity, in which seven members of a family were brutally assaulted by self-proclaimed cow vigilantes while skinning a dead cow, a traditional occupation among Dalits.  

Powering pollution, heating homes: Why are Delhi residents opposing incineration-based waste management

While going through the 50-odd-page report Burning Waste, Warming Cities? Waste-to-Energy (WTE) Incineration and Urban Heat in Delhi , authored by Chythenyen Devika Kulasekaran of the well-known advocacy group Centre for Financial Accountability, I came across a reference to Sukhdev Vihar — a place where I lived for almost a decade before moving to Moscow in 1986 as the foreign correspondent of the daily Patriot and weekly Link .

Boeing 787 under scrutiny again after Ahmedabad crash: Whistleblower warnings resurface

A heart-wrenching tragedy has taken place in Ahmedabad. As widely reported, a Boeing 787 Dreamliner plane crashed shortly after taking off from the city’s airport, currently operated by India’s top tycoon, Gautam Adani. The aircraft was carrying 230 passengers and 12 crew members.  As expected, the crash has led to an outpouring of grief across the country. At the same time, there have been demands for the resignation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, and the Civil Aviation Minister.

Global NGO slams India for media clampdown during conflict, downplays Pakistan

A global civil rights group, Civicus has taken strong exception to how critical commentaries during the “recent conflict” with Pakistan were censored in India, with journalists getting “targeted”. I have no quarrel with the Civicus view, as the facts mentioned in it are all true.

Whither SCOPE? Twelve years on, Gujarat’s official English remains frozen in time

While writing my previous blog on how and why Narendra Modi went out of his way to promote English when he was Gujarat chief minister — despite opposition from people in the Sangh Parivar — I came across an interesting write-up by Aakar Patel, a well-known name among journalists and civil society circles.

Remembering Vijay Rupani: A quiet BJP leader who listened beyond party lines

Late evening on June 12, a senior sociologist of Indian origin, who lives in Vienna, asked me a pointed question: Of the 241 persons who died as a result of the devastating plane crash in Ahmedabad the other day, did I know anyone? I had no hesitation in telling her: former Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani, whom I described to her as "one of the more sensible persons in the BJP leadership."

Why India’s renewable energy sector struggles under 2,735 compliance hurdles

Recently, during a conversation with an industry representative, I was told how easy it is to set up a startup in Singapore compared to India. This gentleman, who had recently visited Singapore, explained that one of the key reasons Indians living in the Southeast Asian nation prefer establishing startups there is because the government is “extremely supportive” when it comes to obtaining clearances. “They don’t want to shift operations to India due to the large number of bureaucratic hurdles,” he remarked.

Guha plans book to counter Dalit, Marxist, and right-wing critics of Gandhi, recalls Modi’s 'pernicious lie' on Patel

Let me first confess: writing about an event three weeks after it has taken place is no good, especially for a newsperson. However, ever since I attended the public lecture by well-known historian Ramachandra Guha on May 18, organised by Sarthak Prakashan for the release of the Gujarati edition of his book monumental book "India After Gandhi", frankly, I kept wondering if he had said anything newsworthy apart from what had already appeared in the media ever since the book's first edition came out in 2007. Call it my inertia or whatever.

Two decades on, hunger still haunts Gujarat: Survey exposes stark gap behind poverty claims

A Niti Aayog report , released about two years ago, estimated that in Gujarat — which our powers-that-be have long considered a model state — 11.66% of people are "multidimensionally poor," a term referring to an index that seeks to estimate "multiple and simultaneous deprivations" at the household level across three macro categories: health, education, and living standards.