When the prime minister of India, Narendra Modi announced a ban on old Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 on November 2016 and putting a cap on withdrawals from banks and ATMs, the prime minister came up with the idea of cashless society. But how do the people react to this issue? The people protested and the prime minister gets backlashed upon his unprecedented decision.
People have to stand for long lines at the ATM to withdraw some cash and by the time their turn is up, the cash runs out. The people are tired from seeing the “NO CASH” sign on the ATM. It is said that the old currency was being replaced with new 500 and 2000 rupee bills, but they have been slow to gain circulation. They struggled to pay house rent, children’s tuition fees and even sending money back to their hometown for their sick parents.
In India, cash has been the only method to do payment for decades because of scarcity of banks. And now that the PM Modi announced to go cashless, it’s an absurd idea for the Indians.
How could it be that way? They are way far behind in technology advancement. The digital infrastructure in India is so horrendously poor. Smartphone owners represent minority in India. Most of them cannot afford to have even one smartphone and how can they commit the cashless money idea? Not in one’s right mind. Not forgetting, e-Wallet needs Wi-Fi connection or internet connection. It is found that India stands among the lower half of surveyed countries in internet usage. They are lacking in that service. And how on earth India is going to commit 100% in cashless money? That is why they rely on traditional cash.
The major reason why the prime minister made this huge step of going for e-Wallet (as known as cashless money) is because to overcome the black economy problem. Black economy refers to the underground economy that thrives on untaxed, unaccounted money and illicitly acquired wealth. Arun Kumar an economist said “The black money economy will not end and this recessionary period is only going to continue. People’s faith in banking system has been shaken. They are distrustful. There is uncertainty all around.”
The Indians hope the current suffering will give them a better future for their life and beloved country.
They feel like Modi is finally acting on promises they elected him for - to end the black of economy that has been haunting the people of India for decades.
In other words, e-Wallet or cashless money does help in terms of curbing the black economy but the effort is still irrelevant and not suitable for India because India is lacking in digital infrastructure and affordability to own smartphones. If this effort is being applied in United States, it will not be a big problem.
No comments:
Post a Comment