One Year Of Demonetization

8 Nov 2016 !

Exactly one year ago, this was the very day when 86% of cash was flushed out of the country. Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes were declared as invalid tender, acceptable only for deposits at bank, and for payment of some extremely essential payments like toll, railway booking etc.

What an upheaval !

A few days later, while the country reeled under the effects of Demonetization, I wrote this blog - D For Demonetization - and made this remark.

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The day the 500-1000 notes were made illegal, I rushed to buy a kg of tomatoes from my neighboring store at half past ten in the night. It costed my Rs 30 a kg !

I hope come back a year later with the price of tomatoes and will let you know if the surgical strike against black money changed things - for better or for worse. Until then, राष्ट्र  का  निर्माण  करने  के  लिए  मैं कतार में   हूँ !

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And here I am back on 7 Nov 2017, exactly an year later.

On 5th Nov 2017, Sunday, I walked into a shop to buy some tomatoes. I asked for the price of tomatoes. The vendor said - Rs 20 for 1/4 of a kg. A piercing price, I should say ! I picked up 250 grams of tomatoes and walked away.

Next stop. Another shop, where I expected the price to be lesser. This was the very shop which sold me tomatoes at Rs 30 a  kg an year ago. The situation was not remarkably different than the first shop. The price was Rs 60 per kg.

Shocking, ain't it !

We heard a lot of good points during demonetization. Demonetization promised to make life easier for common people like me and you.

The price of tomatoes and its trajectory over the past year is a far cry from the promised benefits. 

Probably, what you and I did - "राष्ट्र  का  निर्माण  करने  के  लिए  मैं कतार में हूँ !" - didn't help. I think what actually happened was - "एक साल पहले, मैं काले धन वालों के काले धन का नव निर्माण के लिए क़तार मैं खड़ा था !!""

New Currency Notes in India

P.S. The best part of demonetization - the rainbow colored currency notes in India, the plethora of memes after the move, and the push India made towards a digital country. Rest all that you read is a figment of imagination !

P.S.2 RBI is still counting the notes which were deposited in the banks in the post demonetization era. Happy Counting !!