CPI (M) state secretary G. Ramakrishnan has said that the demonetisation exercise in its present form was not genuinely aimed at eradicating black money but only to divert the overall dissent of people on Union Government.
“Considering the apparent hardships faced by the common man, the authorities should allow to use the now withdrawn Rs. 500 and Rs. 1,000 as legal tenders till December 30 before phasing them out.
“The buffer period could be utilised to inject adequate replacement currencies into the system. At the same time, all other scrutiny procedures meant for monitoring of any unaccounted money flowing into the system can be continued up to December 30,” he told reporters here on Sunday.
On why he felt that the present measures will not wipe out entire black money, Mr. Ramakrishnan claimed that according to the authentic studies, only six per cent of the black money generated in the country was stored in cash. “The remaining 94 per cent have been either stashed in banks abroad or invested in properties, gold, equities and other investment destinations. Similarly, the issue of counterfeit notes is also not at any worrisome levels to warrant any demonetisation exercise of the kind. A report of Indian Statistical Institute says that counterfeit notes comes to only 0.025 per cent of the legal currencies in circulation,” he contended.
The CPI (M) leader wondered why the Union Government opted for such an exercise when it is not even listed among the eight steps suggested by the special investigation team (SIT) constituted for tackling black money.
He asked why the Union Government, which shows much concern about wiping out black money, has waived off loans given to the corporate houses to the tune of Rs. 1,12,000 crore during 2014-15 fiscal.
On the sufferings of the agrarian community due to the monetary curbs imposed on co-operative sector credit institutions post-monetisation, Mr. Ramakrishnan pointed out that agrarian community in the State had plunged into a predicament as they obtain nearly Rs 6,000 crore worth agriculture loans from these institutions.
He appealed to the State Government to take steps to conduct civic body polls (stalled by the Madras High Court) at the earliest.
