Hailed as the architect of India's economic reforms, former prime minister Manmohan Singh in one his last interviews had said in 2019 that the country's economy was 'over-regulated', the government exerted control and interferences were aplenty with even regulators having 'morphed into controllers'.
'Those who should have been affected benefitted from demonetisation.' 'And the vast majority who should not have been affected lost out.' 'That is the ultimate result of demonetisation.'
Demonetisation and Agniveer reveal the two mindsets India has become. In both these government schemes, one sees a desire to play the country like an orchestra anchored by conductor/conductors, argues Shyam G Menon.
He further said that demonetisation 'yagna' is aimed at benefitting the rich.
India's Test skipper Virat Kohli described Modi government's demonetisation move as the greatest in the country's political history.
'There was trust, but perhaps there was also this apprehension that given the supreme post of prime minister, Sonia Gandhi felt her authority may be a challenged.'
Former Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh passed away on Thursday night at the age of 92. He was brought to the emergency department of AIIMS Delhi in critical condition after "sudden loss of consciousness."
He drew the roadmap of India's economic reform, unshackled it from the licence raj and pulled it back from the brink when even its gold reserve was pledged.
'Modi had not discussed demonetization with me prior to his announcement on 8 November 2016. 'I learnt of it along with the rest of the country. 'I was not surprised when he did not discuss the issue with me prior to making the public announcement. 'It fitted in with his style of making dramatic announcements.' A fascinating excerpt from Pranab Mukherjee's The Presidential Years: 2012-2017.
'I want the prime minister to be punished because he put our country in difficulties as he took this decision without Cabinet approval.' 'When he had already ordered the printing of new currency notes on May 19, 2016, why did he tell lies to the country?'
'In the total of black wealth, only 1% or less than 1% constitute cash.' 'So, even if cash is completely weaned out, it impacts only 1% of the black wealth.'
The demonetisation move will force the Modi government to battle with a policy dichotomy, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
Mr Pradhan's understanding of realpolitik and organisational dynamics makes him the ultimate party man, notes Aditi Phadnis.
Kharge also hit back at the BJP for criticising his party colleague Rahul Gandhi over a copy of the Constitution with a red cover. He showed a picture of PM Modi gifting a similar copy to former president Ramnath Kovind.
Nivedita Mookerji finds out how Paytm CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma is handling his soaring popularity after the note ban as well as the criticism that comes as a package deal.
A day ahead of the nationwide protests planned by the opposition against demonetisation, Prime Minister Narendra Modi defended the move and warned unscrupulous people using the Jan Dhan accounts of the poor to launder their black money of strict action.
The sabre-rattling between parties on rival sides of the political divide over demonetisation showed no signs of softening on Saturday with the government accusing Congress of engaging in "fear mongering" and the latter hitting back calling the exercise a "not well thought out move" whose after-effects will last long.
'In the coming months, expect more government action that will be packaged as an assault on black money,' warns A K Bhattacharya.
'If the government had not spent an incredible amount of energy on demonetisation it may -- may, because it had not done anything the previous six months either -- have been able to pay attention to the deeper problems of low investment and job creation.'
'The whole country supports the government. The exceptions are only two -- those who thrived on black money and those who are inimical to Indian interests,' argues Major General Mrinal Suman.
'Our politicians solely depend on bureaucrats who are unaccountable and follow their own agenda.' 'Our politicians would dare not dream of establishing a DOGE,' argues Lieutenant General Prakash Katoch (retd).
Kharge's remarks came after Modi on Friday said the Congress stands "badly exposed" in front of people for promising to them what the party knows it will never be able to deliver.
The note ban is Modi's make-or-break gambit for 2019. Opposition leaders see a vulnerability and won't gift pre-eminence to the Congress, says Shekhar Gupta.
'The BJP gets most of its contributions in cash.' 'Now they may show that donations are made in small amounts, less that Rs 20,000, but everyone knows this is just absurd.'
'PM Modi would have swept the elections in Kashmir after notebandi but then he scrapped Article 370 so all his good work went down the drain.'
Significant portion of the funds used to fuel urban demand have become illegal and inoperative.
The two ministers were released from Parliament Street police station an hour later.
It's been 13 days that the Winter Session commenced, but no work has taken place as MPs continue to spar over the note ban.
How the demonetisation drives in India and Venezuela have played out.
Political compulsions have led to a change of narrative. But, in the ministry of finance, senior management ought to be looking at more serious issues than 'digitally cashless' India, says Rahul Khullar.
It's five months after 8/11. But this is not the first time that India's currency of the time faced the axe. The Mughals, after invading a territory, would effect the demonetisation of the local currency with the aim to cripple the economy of the land.
"While it takes political courage to launch such a trailblazing and massive campaign; it actually takes far more wisdom to give it a happy ending," an article in the state-run Global Times said.
'They think quick fixes like internship in the private sector will help. 'In fact, internships have been going on for the last one decade.' 'In 2014-2015 itself, we had a ministry of skill development. None of the programmes have yielded results, still they are continuing with such schemes under some other name.' 'We don't see any seriousness on the part of the government to attack the problem of unemployment.'
'The government's principal aim should be to reduce the volume of cash transactions.' 'That would bring more of the Indian economy within the purview of taxation.' 'The current downturn in economic activity due to a lack of adequate cash is likely to be limited to a year,'
India Inc said policymakers should take doable steps to revive fixed investments and production of capital goods
She said the Centre is allowing demonetised notes in various sectors like railways, aviation, petroleum, etc but not for state government sectors.
Using the Mahabharat reference as a leitmotif, Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Monday claimed that an atmosphere of fear prevails all around with a group of six trapping the entire country in a 'chakravyuh' he promised would be broken by the INDIA bloc.
Opposition parties forced early adjournments in both Houses of parliament as they continued to press for a debate on demonetisation under any rule that entailed voting, a demand that the government has refused to accept. Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi led a walkout by the Opposition over no obituary references being made for the seven Army personnel who lost their lives in the terror attack on an Army base in Nagrota, Jammu and Kashmir.
Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday assumed charge as the Finance and Corporate Affairs Minister for the second consecutive term and is slated to soon present the final Budget for FY '25 that is going to set the tone for the Modi 3.0 government's priorities and direction for Viksit Bharat. Upon her reaching the North Block office, Sitharaman was greeted by Finance Secretary T V Somanathan and other top officials. Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary was also present. Chaudhary assumed charge on Tuesday evening.
'Demonetisation will push India onto a higher growth path after a temporary dip.'
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