Question

write an article on demonetisation in about 500 600 words

Answer 1

Why ban Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes?

In two words: black money. Unaccounted money, often used in any form of corruption or illicit deals, usually takes the form of high-value notes, which in this case are the Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 bills. In his speech, Modi specifically pointed out that these large-value notes were being used to finance corruption and fund terrorism.

The Financial Action Task Force, a global body that looks at the criminal use of the international financial system, notes that high-value bills are used in money laundering schemes, racketeering, and drug and people trafficking.

In India, the Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes also constitute a huge percentage of the money spent by governments, political parties and candidates during general elections. A Centre for Media Studies report showed that nearly Rs 30,000 crore was spent during the 2014 general election, while official spending only accounted for Rs 7,000-Rs 8,000 crore.

This of course only scratches the surface: major industries such as real estate have historically been conduits of black money.

The most important fact, however, is that the share of large-value notes has only been increasing over the years. While some of this is no doubt due to the natural growth expansion of our economy, it also hints at the increasing size of our black money economy.

Modi’s decision to decommission Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes should ideally not hurt most individuals in the long-term, although it will have a significant negative impact on the working class and small and rural businesses in the short-term. Economist Ajit Ranade’s back-of-the-envelope calculation shows that the highest face value in India should be around Rs 250; simply put, Rs 250 is the highest-value note that most Indian individuals should need.

On the other hand, what needs to be noted is that there’s no good estimate for how much of India’s black money is in forms other than currency/physical notes such as gold, jewellery, land or any other form of wealth. Therefore, while banning Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes will tackle the black money that is in the form of hard cold cash, it won’t affect other forms of black money. On similar lines, this move will, obviously, have little effect on black money stashed away in foreign tax havens.