The overnight announcement to invalidate Rs.500 and Rs.1,000 notes has only caused deep suffering. Those who deal with black money would have already made the change in the form of gold, FDI, land and immovable properties. The abrupt announcement has also affected foreign tourist inflows, inconvenienced thousands of Indian travellers, patients undergoing treatment in private hospitals besides increasing the workload of bank officials.
Corruption cannot be done away with by freezing certain denominations. There has to be a conscious attempt to restructure the tax base.
Himmath A. Hussain,
Male, Republic of Maldives
With the competitive claims by Rahul Gandhi and Prime Minister Narendra Modi about not being allowed to speak in Parliament now being aired at public fora, it is unfortunate that both leaders are glossing over the fact that the common man is still suffering immensely due to the cash crunch in banks and ATMs (“I am not being allowed to speak in House, says Modi”, Dec.11). There seems to be no respite, and the situation is made worse by the absence of clarity from the government. The Prime Minister should take the initiative to end the impasse. Crores of rupees have already been lost as Parliament has stalled. When will there be a solution to the common man’s difficulties in the absence of money at hand?
K.R. Srinivasan,
Secunderabad
