Seventy-year-old Thankamma Sankaran was under the impression that when banks reopened on Thursday, she could walk in, flaunt a copy of her ID proof, and get her eight Rs.500 notes exchanged for new currency notes.
However, she was in for a surprise when she was handed a request form to be submitted along with the currency notes at a bank near Palarivattom. Worse still, the form in English was Greek to her.
She was all gratitude when this reporter helped her fill in the rather simple form.
Prof. C.R. Omanakuttan observed that the form should have been printed in Malayalam as well considering that banking was no longer the preserve of the educated class but was associated with the lives of people from even the lowest strata of society.
However, writer K.L. Mohana Varma felt there was no use of printing the forms in Malayalam as the most affected were migrant workers. “Average Malayalees frequenting banks know English. Migrant workers needed help, and the staff at the bank I visited was helping them,” he said.
Worst hit
Demonetisation dealt the greatest blow to the large migrant population in Ernakulam, the majority of whom was part of the unorganised labour market.
“The liquidity dent in the market has left them [migrants] jobless since Wednesday as the shortage of legal tenders have forced employers to keep them out of action,” observed Benoy Peter, executive director, Centre for Migration and Inclusive Development. Meanwhile, currency exchange through banks turned out to be of little help to majority of these workers as they have no proper identity documents. “Worse still, they keep their earnings in high denomination currencies. Hence, they are left with no option but to swap their cash reserve with ‘TT’ (hawala) agents.
Request forms printed in English for currency exchange deal a blow to migrants and illiterate lot
