Drug money is flowing into the States and an increasing number of people in cities are becoming addicts and this is the biggest challenge.
These are the observations made by none other than Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu himself.
The “drug money issue” came up at a joint press conference addressed by Mr. Naidu and NITI Aayog Vice-Chairman Arvind Panagariya on Tuesday.
What started as a reply to a question on withdrawing Rs. 500 and Rs. 1,000 notes to check black money, the subject took a turn as the Chief Minister and Mr. Panagariya talked about the drug money.
Mr. Panagariya said there was a lot of literature on black money and cashless transactions. Ken Rogoff, a leading U.S. economist, mooted the idea of cashless transactions. The U.S. introduced cashless transactions to check the drug money, he said.
Intervening, Mr. Naidu said: “Now we are getting drug money. There are a lot of drug addicts in the cities.” He, however, did not elaborate.
The Rs. 500 and Rs. 1000 currency notes are being used only by elite or those who stash it in iron safe as black money.
Corruption is the root cause of black money and all evils in society, Mr. Naidu said.
