Where is the gain behind the pain?

Narendra Modi, much like Indira Gandhi earlier, upended the concept of collegiate leadership when he invited his Cabinet colleagues for snacks and then left the room to announce that all Rs 500 and Rs 2,000 notes were invalid. 

Indira Gandhi’s Emergency was accompanied by with its set of reasoning: enforce punctuality, instil discipline and imprison those stalling development. Demonetisation was also accompanied by its rationale: to curb black money, corruption, terrorism and counterfeit money. 

As of now India is waiting for the payback from two months of not being able to utilise one’s own cash. H. K. Dua, veteran journalist and former Editor-in-Chief of The Tribune, tries to encapsulate the millions of words on the subject into a slim, comprehensible booklet comprising articles from a varied set: veteran financial journalist N. Chandramohan, established politicians and economists, the effervescent Bibek Debroy and the trademark gentle raps from the former Statesman Editor Sunanda K Datta Ray.

Dua’s curation of the articles is helmed by a foreword that, in a detached tone, traces the path of the demonetisation exercise, beginning with Modi’s invitation to his colleagues for chai paani. 

What was the main aim of demonetisation? There may a little bit of what every contributor has to offer: a weapon to achieve political aims (Zoya Hassan), three back it to the hilt (Suresh Prabhu, Debroy and Anil Bokil), some find it economically destructive (Prof Arun Kumar and Chandramohan), while Sitaram Yechury, Manish Tewari and Chandramohan demolish the exercise completely.

Has demonetisation captured the heart of the masses for the sincerity of its purpose? Is it a political stunt to strip rivals? What will be the long-term trajectory of this move? As Dua states, the jury is still out on whether such a widespread disruption affecting 1.3 billion people was at all necessary, with little gain for the country? This collection does provides ammunition to draw one’s own conclusion. 

— SD