RBI Governor should resign on moral grounds

When the Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 8th November at 8 P.M. announced the demonetization of 500 & 1000 rupee note to abolish the corruption and the black money, the entire nation welcomed it. Who doesn’t want to abolish the corruption and the black money? But as the time passed, peoples’ woes went on rise and even after 15 days the public is seen in queues for hours. Queues are formed since midnight outside the banks to withdraw their own hard earned money. After standing in queues for hours with hunger and thirst they are told that the Bank is out of cash and they will have to queue again the next day. Without proper preparation of implementation, best of the best plan may turn into the worst nightmare; we have various examples in the past. The way the government has to frequently modify its decision to demonetize the 500 and 1000 rupee note; perhaps it appears that the Government or the Reserve Bank of India had not properly prepared a detailed plan. Repeated government announcements mean that the government isaware  that the people everywhere are facing problems. Secondly, these announcements prove that the government’s preparation to implement such a big decision was very poor. While the government claims it was preparing for it for months. Had the homework been done  properly the government should have been aware that this is the season of sowing, and weddings. How appropriate was the decision to stall the transactions, business justified? That is why the government has to frequently change its order. Implementation and the execution of the Prime Minister’s plan, was the duty of the Reserve Bank of India. If it lacks it is the fault of the Reserve Bank and it should be accountable to the nation. Dozens of people have died, who is responsible for it? On 22nd November a father in PS Tidambari (Banda-UP) could not withdraw the money for treatment of her daughter, the girl died within the bank premises. An old man in Delhi collapsed in queue. News of withdrawal of Rs. Two and half lakhs for the families having weddings has proved to be a trouble instead of relief. People reached in various banks on Tuesday with wedding cards to withdraw Rs. Two and half lakh in cash had to turn empty handed being hounded with  various conditions of the Reserve Bank of India. The families are in fix having the wedding within coming two-three days. Anita from Laxminagar tells that her younger daughter is to be married in two days. The home is crowded with relatives. We have nothing in hand as cash. Petty cash is much needed in the homes with wedding. Now bank has placed such conditions we can’t fulfill them within two days. The documents banks are asking are impossible to be arranged within one or two days. Should we prepare for wedding or wander here and there for arranging the documents? We’ve not completed the card distribution yet. Demonetization has also affected the pace of the economic growth of the nation. International rating agency Fitch has indicated on Tuesday that the expected Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate of India may decrease in the last quarter (October-December). Fitch has reported that the decision of demonetization of 500 and 1000 rupee note has created cash crisis in India. All the economic activities have come to a halt. People are unable to make purchases. Farmers are facing problems in purchasing seeds. Production capacity of the nation has been badly affected due to the long queues in the banks. As per the Ex-Governor of the Reserve Bank Raghuraman the nation is losing Rs. 80 thousand crore per day, being the loss of Rs. 40 lakh crore within 50 days. There was not so much black money. What type of economics it is? It is the Reserve Bank of India solely responsible for this wastage. All India Bankers’ Union has rightly sought the resignation of Reserve Bank Governor Urjit Patel for putting the nation into crisis with such incomplete preparation. Union has held him responsible for taking decision without preparation and cash-strap. The Union represents 2.5 lakh senior officials of nationalized, private sector, co-operative and regional banks of the country. Union has said that the RBI Governor should take the moral responsibility of deaths of several people including 11 bank officials and resign from the office. The present RBI Governor has failed in taking right decision for which the general public is paying. Senior banker also questioned on releasing 2000 rupee note in place of 500 rupee note first and said that the RBI Governor signed on 2000 rupee note. Why didn’t his team feel that the size of 2000 rupee note is smaller than 1000 rupee note? How can two lakh ATM machines be calibrated simultaneously? Unions have cursed the RBI saying that it has been failed in case of demonetization and could not properly advice the government. So before the government faces more miserable situation, the RBI Governor should resign from the office taking the moral responsibility.

ANIL NARENDA