The credibility of institutions, including nationalised banks, suffered in the process of demonetisation, said Sashi Kumar, chairman, Asian College of Journalism and Media Development Foundation, on Saturday.
Delivering the Kalki Sadasivam Memorial lecture on the ‘Fact and Fiction of Demonetisation’, he said that a national consensus should have been evolved on issues like demonetisation, where entire generations would suffer. He said that a total of ₹42,000 crore had been spent to replace the notes but no black money was found as around 95% of the ₹500 and ₹1,000 notes had come back to the banks.
“The timing was terrible and the replacement money came agonisingly. A total of 86% of the currency was rendered useless overnight,” he added. The exercise that began as a move against black money then changed into one against counterfeit money, then became a move to prevent inflation and was stated to be a step towards a cashless society.
Earlier, the Kalki Sadasivam Memorial Award 2017 for Best Print Advertisement for 2016 for creating a credible, tasteful hype-free advertisement was presented to Dentsu Impact. Its vice president Vidya Sankar, Kowsik. S, senior manager-sales, Maruti Suzuki and V. Ramnarayan, editor, Sruti magazine spoke. Ten students were presented with scholarships of ₹7,500 each by the Kalki Sadasivam Memorial Trust.
