Three years of Narendra Modi govt: 10 charts that show where Indian economy stands

In May, 2014, the Narendra Modi government came to power with a historic mandate and promising good days for the economy. Investors hoped for a business-friendly government while 125 crore Indians, one-third of whom is below the poverty line, aspired for more jobs and affordable life.
Three years have passed since then. Did Modi deliver on those promises? Statistics are sometimes misleading, nonetheless, it is indeed important to look at the numbers and see what they tell us. Here is Modi government's progress on key economic indicators in 10 graphics:
For the government, which is battling charges of increased violence against minorities, GDP number is definitely a big relief. On an average the last three years' growth has been over 7 percent. In fact, over the last few quarters, India has beat China to be the fastest growing. However, many have raised questions about the numbers as the situation on the ground is not reflecting the high growth.

In January 2015, the government changed the way GDP is being calculated, which helped increase the GDP numbers significantly. Now, India's GDP is measured by taking into account the gross value added (GVA). Many economists and political observers questioned the timing of the move. However, there is no stopping the government. According to brokerage firm Nomura, more upward revisions of earlier GVA are in store based on the new IIP series that was released last week.
Inflation:
Inflation is a big relief for the government. When Modi took over as prime minister, the retail inflation stood at 8.33 percent. In April 2017, it is just 2.99 percent. Vegetable inflation, meanwhile, declined from 10.72 percent to (-)8.59 percent. And food inflation decelerated to 0.61 percent from 8.89 percent. The question is who should get the credit? There are many who think the deep deceleration in inflation is because of the sharp fall in oil prices. They point out that the prime minister has been just lucky. There is a section who says the government too has taken steps like controlling hoarding in food items etc to rein in prices. The big test for Modi will come when the crude oil prices increase.
The government released a new series of the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) last week with the new base year 2011-12. The industrial activity under the Modi regime has been largely weak. Even consumer durables output, which reflects the consumer mood in the economy, has been largely weak. From a high of 11.1 percent consumer durables output in May 2014, the output in March 2017 stands at (-)0.8 percent.
It's a known fact that the stock markets love Modi. As exit poll results started coming in during 9, 12 and 13 of May 2014, the Sensex rose 1,500 points. Over the last three years, though there have been patches of disappointments (the index hit a low of 22951 on 11 February 2016), by and large it has been a dream run. Now, the market is again on record breaking spree. On Friday (19 May), the index hit a record high 30,712.35. As it moved from 24,121.74 (on 16 May 2014) to 30,712, rising 27.3 percent, investor wealth swelled 56 percent or by Rs 45 lakh crore. The BSE market capitalisation is now more than $2 trillion.
Is Sangh Parivar for foreign investment or against it? It is not possible to give a clear answer to this. While organisations like Swadeshi Jagran Manch has vehemently spoken against FDI, the BJP is considered a foreign investor darling. The flow of foreign direct investment (FDI) over the last 3 years is in itself a proof. During the period under Modi, the country saw nearly $149 billion (until December 2016) worth of investment from overseas companies. In comparison, under the erstwhile UPA, three years starting 2011-12 witnessed an aggregate flow of $117 billion.
IIP:
 The government is not entirely the responsible for the exports. What drives exports is mainly the global economic and market situation. But to an extant, the government policies - related to foreign and making the domestic industry export competitive - do impact. Under Modi, exports have only started to pick up. In three months ending April 2017, the average growth has been about 21 percent. Prior to that the figures are poor. In fact, from Dec 2014 to May 2016, the export performance of the country saw a crippling decline. Though now they are looking up, emerging protectionist stance of many countries, including the US, which is the biggest export market for India, have the potential to do not offer much hope. Also, along with exports, there is an increase in imports, resulting in a widening of trade deficit to 29-month high of $13.2 billion.
Investment: Gross fixed capital formation (GFCF) indicates investment in the economy. As seen from the figures, it has been tepid under the Modi regime. The government has not been able to revive private investment. As a percent of GDP, The GFCF has seen a decline from a high of 31.4 percent of GDP recorded in the first quarter of 2015-16 to 26.7 percent of GDP in the third quarter of 2016-17. The investment activity is closely linked to the job creation, the biggest sore point for Modi. It has to be remembered that jobs were one of his biggest poll promises. After three years, one can safely conclude that Modi has miserably failed in creating enough jobs in the economy. The developments in the IT sector is spreading more gloom. The question is will the government be able to create jobs and stem the rising unemployment?

This is one problem which is giving sleepless nights the government and the RBI, though they are yet to admit it as many words. From just Rs 2.34 lakh crore in June 2014, the bad loans of 26 public sector banks has ballooned to Rs 6.46 lakh crore as of December 2016. But is this all? No, is what former RBI deputy governor KC Chakrabarty says. "I’ll put the figure around Rs 20 lakh crore... One should include all troubled loans including reported bad loans, restructured assets, written off loans and bad loans that are not yet recognised," he told Firstpost's Dinesh Unnikrishnan in an exclusive interview. The Modi government has time and again alleged that NPAs were a legacy issue, putting it at the UPA's door. It is not yet clear whether the govenrment is seized of the enormity of the problem. The steps being taken by the govenrment - like the NPA ordinance - do not offer a long-term solution. Neither do they ensure that the money in the possession of big corporates will indeed return to the banks.

Rupee: Pre-election, the rupee was a major talking point because of the widening current account deficit. The UPA government came under severe criticism from the BJP and Narendra Modi, then Gujarat chief minister. After Modi took over, the currency has not been in the pink of health through out. From 58.78 against the US dollar on 16 May, the rupee fell to the record low of 68.87 on 24 November 2016. Now the currency is strengthening but experts have warned that this is a short term trend. Going forward, they expect the rupee to depreciate

Forex reserves:
Even if the rupee depreciates, there is no worry for the government. This is because forex reserves are at a record high. From $312.2 billion, the dollar reserves with the RBI has swelled to $370 billion as of March 2017. That is an increase of $57.7 billion or 18.5 percent. This is enough to cover import bills for more than 10 months.

Asian Games 2018

Asian Games 2018: Wake up at 4 am, travel five hours to train, Shardul Vihan's path to winning double trap silver at 15
It takes a lot to impress Abhinav Bindra. But on Thursday, it took a 15-year-old 80 shots in sultry conditions at Palembang’s JSC Shooting Range to make the Beijing Olympics gold medallist sit up and take notice.
Shardul Vihan eventually won silver in the men’s double trap event, but more than the medal, Bindra’s interest was piqued by his peculiar pre-shot process. Before taking his twin shots, Shardul pulls out a shotgun shell from the pocket of his jacket, holds it to the line of his eye like holding a candle reverentially in front of a deity, drops it back in his pocket and lines up his shot.
The technique is to ensure that he doesn’t over-think going into a shot and his mentality is positive, says Anwer Sultan, who represented India in the trap event at the 2000 Sydney Olympics and is Shardul’s personal coach since the teenager began shooting.

“I have told him to do certain things before a round. He followed that dutifully at Palembang. I have told him to breathe deeply before taking a shot and he needs to follow the process irrespective of whether he hits the clay targets or not,” Sultan tells Firstpost.

It was with this peculiar process that the 15-year-old from Meerut first qualified in top spot in the double trap event and then sent 73 more pink puffs swirling in the Palembang sky to snare a silver medal in the event even as Ankur Mittal, his more seasoned compatriot in the discipline, crashed out in the qualifying round.

With the medal, Shardul joined a growing list of teenage prodigies from the country to have impressed at the Asian Games. Their medals are also a vindication of sorts for the National Rifle Association of India’s policy of allotting a significant part of their budget to the development of junior shooters.

On Thursday, Shardul pipped Qatar’s Hamad Ali Al Marri to the silver medal and gave South Korea’s Shin Hynwoo a scare for gold despite Al Marri and Hynwoo having started their shotgun careers before the Indian was even born.

His first trysts with sport were through cricket and badminton, but when neither endeavour worked out to his satisfaction, he turned his attention to shooting, aged just 12.

“In Meerut, there's a tiny shooting range. But that has just a manual target system. Besides, whenever we hear of shooting we would only hear about Anwer Sultan. He lives in Shaamli, which is not that far from here. We thought if he can make it big hailing from there, he can help our son do the same too,” Shardul’s father Deepak, who is a farmer, tells Firstpost.

When Shardul first went to him, Anwar wanted to see what kind of student he was taking under his wing. So he took him to a table tennis table and then to play badminton.

“There I noticed that his reaction time was good. And since he was young, I was sure that I could develop him just the way a shooter should be developed. If someone is already trained, it is very difficult to change his technique,” says Sultan before adding, “In shooting you need a lot of training. But he was up for it.”

The 15-year-old’s current regimen is to wake up at 4 am in the morning, travel two and a half hours from Meerut to the Dr Karni Singh Shooting Range in New Delhi for six days of the week to train under Sultan. Then he travels two and a half hours again from New Delhi to his house in Meerut. Some days, he returns only at 8 in the evening. This training regimen has left him little time for school, which he attends just once a week sometimes.

“Jab bhi practice se time mil jaata hai toh school jaata hai (Whenever he gets times from training, he goes to school),” says Deepak.

His single-minded dedication led him to make waves last year at the shooting nationals. He clinched four gold medals, including in double trap junior and senior categories.

“I couldn’t believe it when he won a gold medal in the junior and senior Nationals last year at the age of 14, then also. After those gold medals, I started training him even more seriously,” says Sultan.

Shardul Vihan holds up India's flag as he poses with his silver medal on Thursday. AFPShardul Vihan holds up India's flag as he poses with his silver medal on Thursday. AFP
The coach believes that Shardul should have won gold on Thursday, given his form going into the six-man finals.

“He could have won gold going by his performance in the qualification round where he topped. But winning a medal at the age of 15 is a great achievement in itself. Eventually he lost by just a point,” says Sultan.

The 56-year-old has a simple explanation as to why junior shooters are doing so well for India in recent times. “When you are that age, you don’t know what pressure is,” Sultan says, “These youngsters are going into such big competitions for the first time thinking that they may not win. But when you have experience and go into competitions feeling that you need to win, that’s when press

On two films, past and present, and the Indian Muslims’ loyalty

On two films, past and present, and the Indian Muslims’ loyalty

Reviews of the recently released film, Mulk, remind me of the 1974 classic, Garam Hava, in which the late Balraj Sahni excelled himself in the role of Salim Mirza. Both films deal with the question of the loyalty of Indian Muslims and their place in the country.

Garam Hava, which was set in Agra in the immediate aftermath of Partition, focussed on the forced eviction of Salim Mirza from his ancestral home as a consequence of his brother’s migration to Pakistan. Mulk is set in present day Varanasi. Murad (actor Rishi Kapoor) is victimised and his loyalty questioned because one of his nephews becomes a terrorist. The larger question that both films raise is the same: Can Indian Muslims ever be loyal to the country or must they face mistrust and hostility merely because of their religion? The knee-jerk answer to this is that terrorism has no religion and acts of individuals should not tarnish the image of an entire community. But this is not enough. Here are three irrefutable parts of evidence that show that the loyalty of Indian Muslims should be beyond doubt.

The first is Brigadier Mohammad Usman of the Dogra Regiment, the highest-ranking officer killed in the India-Pakistan War of 1947-48 at the age of 35. He was posthumously awarded the Maha Vir Chakra, the second highest award for bravery. Less known is the fact that during Partition, repeated attempts were made by Muslim League leaders — and according to some reports by Jinnah himself — to persuade him to choose Pakistan with the prospect of being appointed the first Chief of the Army Staff (CoAS). He refused because of his commitment to a secular India. Had this brilliant officer lived, he may have become India’s first Muslim CoAS.

The second is of Havildar Abdul Hamid of the Grenadier Regiment. Single-handedly, with his recoilless gun, he put out of action six Pakistani tanks in the battle of Khem Karan, arguably the most decisive encounter of the 1965 India-Pakistan war. He was killed while attempting to destroy the seventh. Abdul Hamid was posthumously awarded the Param Vir Chakra, India’s highest military honour. He was 32.

The third is of Captain Haneefuddin of the Rajputana Rifles who was killed while leading a unit at a height of 18,500 ft during the Kargil conflict in 1999 while trying to evict the enemy from a strategic position. He was 25. He was posthumously awarded the Vir Chakra, India’s third highest military honour, and the area where he died was renamed Sub-sector Haneef.

These are the three most celebrated Muslim martyrs who died fighting Pakistan. They answered with their blood the question that Garam Hava and Mulk raise. I am certain there are many more such martyrs who are not so well-known. Their numbers would be much greater if Muslims, now barely 3% of the armed forces head count according to unofficial figures, were represented in the armed forces in proportion to their population.

The writer is University Distinguished Professor Emeritus of International Relations, Michigan State University

Citing ISIS, Rahul says exclusion of people leads to insurgency

He said non-violence in India is a founding philosophy of its nationhood and the essence of being an Indian.

Congress president Rahul Gandhi cited the example of Islamic State terrorist group to say that exclusion of a large number of people from the development process could lead to the creation of insurgent groups anywhere in the world.

Addressing a gathering at the Bucerius Summer School in Hamburg in Germany, Mr. Gandhi said the BJP government has excluded tribals, Dalits and minorities from the development narrative and “this could be a dangerous thing”.

“It is very dangerous in the 21st century to exclude people,” he said.

“If you don’t give people a vision in the 21st century, somebody else will. And that’s the real risk of excluding a large number of people from the development process,” Mr. Gandhi said.

He also linked the incidents of lynching in India to joblessness and the lack of opportunities for the poor who, he said, were not being given equal opportunities.

Mr. Gandhi said the incidents of lynching were a result of the anger emanating from joblessness and destruction of small businesses due to demonetization and poorly implemented Goods and Services Tax.

Saying that the transformation taking place across the world requires certain protections for the common people, Gandhi accused the BJP dispensation of taking away these protections and hitting the informal economy through demonetization and GST.

“They (the BJP government) feel tribal communities, poor farmers, lower caste people, minorities shouldn’t get the same benefits as the elite. The other thing they’ve done is they’ve started attacking the support structures created to help certain groups of people. That’s not the only damage they’ve done,” he said.

Mr. Gandhi said there is “something much more dangerous” that has happened, and that is — a couple of years ago the prime minister “demonetized the Indian economy and destroyed cash flows to small and medium businesses, rendering millions jobless”.

The Congress president addressed the gathering for more than an hour. He also took questions from students from across the world.

US brought a new law after 2003

During his address, Mr. Gandhi said that after the US attacked Iraq in 2003, they brought a law that stopped a particular tribe in Iraq from getting jobs in the government and in the army.

“It seemed like a very innocuous decision at that time,” he said.

But it resulted in a large number of people joining insurgency “that fought the US and caused massive casualties,” he said.

“It didn’t end there. That insurgence slowly entered empty spaces. It entered the empty space in Iraq and in Syria and then it connected with...a horrific idea called ISIS,” Mr. Gandhi said.

He said there is a lot of hatred in the world but not enough people are listening. The only solution, he added, was to understand people.

India’s foreign policy

Outlining his idea of India’s foreign policy, Mr. Gandhi said there are different visions in the world, including that of the US, China and India. He said India’s role should be to balance the US and China - much like Europe’s role.

The Congress chief said he has suffered violence and he can say that there is only one way to let it go - that is forgiveness.

“And for forgiveness, you need to understand where it is coming from. My father was killed by a terrorist in 1991. When the terrorist died a few years later, I wasn’t happy. I saw myself in his children.”

LTTE chief Velupillai Prabhakaran, who was responsible for the killing of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, was shot dead by Sri Lankan troops in 2009.

About famous hug to Prime Minister

The Congress chief also mentioned his famous hug to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Parliament.

He said some of his own party members did not like it when he hugged Mr. Modi during a debate on no-confidence motion against the government in July.

Men should change their outlook towards women, says Rahul Gandhi

The leader said the other component is that the level of violence in India is increasing.

Congress president Rahul Gandhi has said Indian men do not view the women in the country as equal and they should change their outlook towards women, even as he disagreed with the view that ‘India was the most unsafe place for women’

Addressing a gathering at Bucerius Summer School in Hamburg on Wednesday, Mr. Gandhi said: “I would disagree with the idea that India is the most unsafe place for women. But it is true there is a huge amount of violence against women in India. A lot of it is visible, lot of it is on the streets, but huge amount of it is invisible.”

“It happens in houses. A woman never talk about it. I think it is a cultural issue, it is a issue of how Indian men view Indian women and I think it requires a huge amount of work to fix that problem,” he added.

The leader said the other component is that the level of violence in India is increasing. “Whenever the levels of violence increase, the people who are weakest, bear the consequences the most. The fact that violence is increasing dramatically in India, women are actually getting a huge share of it.”

“It is a tragedy. It is the single most important thing that India needs to do is to change the way its men view Indian women. Frankly, it is going to take a huge effort, but it is the duty of every single Indian to do it,” he added.

Talking about women representation in legislatures, Mr. Gandhi said: “When I look at political parties, we don’t see women representatives... when I look at the Parliament, assemblies. I don’t see the number of women that I should. If you don’t put women in positions of power, you won’t get their voice into the system.”

“I do a lot of work to try and get women into the system, try and get women into the party, Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha and and assemblies. We are championing right now a bill on reservation for women in Parliament.

“So that should be big step going forward. A lot has been done at the lower levels in the elections, places are reserved for women. But at the end of it is a cultural issue as well. It is literally the way the Indian male view the women. He has to start viewing her as an equal, with respect. He has to start treating her with respect. I am sorry to say, that he does not,” he added.

“You cannot build a successful country, if you do not involve its women in the process of building,” the Congress leader said.

Rahul belittled India, lied through his teeth in attacking Modi govt: BJP

“You have no data and you do no preparation,” says BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra.


The BJP on Thursday accused Congress president Rahul Gandhi of running down India in his address at an event in Hamburg, Germany, and sought explanations from him on his comments there.

Addressing a press conference, BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra said that Mr. Gandhi “left no opportunity to belittle India and to present it in a bad light,” adding that he needed “explanations.”

“Rahul Gandhi has tried to justify terrorism and give justification for the Islamic State (IS),” said Mr. Patra. “There cannot be anything more frightening and worrying,” he claimed.

He said that Mr. Gandhi’s reported submission was that minorities in India would “sell their soul” to the IS if jobs are not available for them, and this amounted to “denigrating” the community.

Mr. Gandhi has a poor opinion of India, Mr. Patra said. The Congress chief harped on about China even though, he claimed, India had become one of the leading countries in the world under the Modi government.

“His speech was full of lies and deception. I wonder whether the figures Rahul Gandhi cited of China producing 50 jobs every 24 hours compared to 44 in India, were manufactured in 10 Janpath,” he said. “You have no data and you do no preparation,” Mr. Patra said.

On remarks about the status of women in India Mr. Patra said Sonia Gandhi was the Congress chief for over 19 years and ruled India as a “proxy prime minister” for 10 years.

“Wasn’t this Indian culture which helped her reach the top? Rahul and Sonia Gandhi should come out and explain how they can point fingers at this great Indian culture,” he said, demanding an apology from Mr. Gandhi.

Citing statistics, he said that under the Congress-led UPA government, the Right to Food law was implemented in only 11 States, while the BJP-led NDA dispensation has brought it into force in all States and UTs, he said.

The rural employment scheme (MGNREGA) became a “monumental success” under the current government from the “monument to failure” it was under the UPA, he claimed, adding that over 56% of its workforce are women, its highest figure.

PM didn't like my hug, even some party members didn’t approve of it: Rahul

Rahul Gandhi favored Prime Minister Narendra Modi, got angry with the party members.

“Hate could not be countered with hate, and one can fight violence only by non-violence”, he tells a gathering at Bucerius Summer School in Hamburg.

Congress president Rahul Gandhi said certain “hateful remarks” made against him by Prime Minister Narendra Modi prompted him to hug him during the no-confidence debate in Parliament, and noted that “he [Mr. Modi] didn’t like [it] and was upset by it”, adding that “some of his party members also didn’t approve of it”.

Mr. Gandhi said non-violence was a foundational philosophy of the nationhood and the entire history. “Hate could not be countered with hate, and one can fight violence only by non-violence”.

“That’s the essesnce of being Indian. The basic idea is this that if someone hates you, that is something that they are doing. Hate is their internal emotion, it is their reaction to the world. Responding to their hate with hate is quite foolish. It is not going to solve any problem,” Mr. Gandhi told a gathering at Bucerius Summer School in Hamburg.

He said:

“You are in full control of how you respond to things. So, when the Prime Minister was making sort of hateful remarks at me, I was feeling that I needed to go and give him a hug an tell him that world is not such a bad place and it is not all evil out there.

“And that there are many people who actually have a lot of affection and I gave him a hug. He didn’t like that..he didn’t like that because... Gandhiji actually wrote it... he said the only way you can counter hate is through love.

“You can’t counter hate with hate because it just increases the hate. When I actually went and showed affection to the prime minister, he was taken aback, he was upset by it. But it works, it really does.”

Asked if it came as a surprise for his party members, Mr. Gandhi said: “Yeah they were a bit..some of them didn’t like it. Some of them told me later that you should not have hugged him... But I disagreed. I said no... I think the conversation, not only in India, the conversation in the whole world somehow people think that by hating other people you will get a solution.”

Mr. Gandhi said:

“I have seen it in my own life, that you simply won’t get a solution. The only solution is through conversation, the only solution eventually is by talking to people and showing them that you understand where they are coming from.

“There is no other way. You might be under the illusion that you can fight violence with violence, but it will come back. You might think that you are very powerful and that you can subdue somebody else, but they will find a way of coming back.”

NARENDRA MODI SPECIAL

Narendra Modi is the fourteenth Prime Minister of India, who took office on May 26, 2014. Before taking over as the PM, Modi was the Chief Minister of the Indian state of Gujarat for three consecutive terms (2001 to 2014). As the CM, he is credited with boosting Gujarat's economy and making it a lucrative investment destination for industrialists.

A member of the Bharatiya Janata Party, Modi is a Hindu nationalist and member of the right-wing Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). Aiming to transform India into a global manufacturing hub, Modi took the initiative of launching the ' Make in India' campaign on September 2014.

On November 8, 2016, in a surprise announcement, he ordered to ban higher denomination currency notes (Rs 500 and Rs 1,000) to weed out black money and end corruption.

Ever since he has taken over the office, Modi has tried to raise foreign direct investment in the Indian economy, increased the budget on infrastructure and reduced spending on healthcare and social welfare programmes. He also initiated a national-level sanitation campaign and abolished environmental and labour laws.
BHARATIYA JANATA PARTY :  Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is one of the major political parties in India. The BJP's origins lie in the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, formed in 1951 by Syama Prasad Mookerjee. After the State of Emergency in 1977, the Jana Sangh merged with several other parties to form the Janata Party. After three years in power, the Janata party dissolved in 1980 with the members of the erstwhile Jana Sangh reconvening to form the BJP. After the 1998 general election, the BJP-led coalition known as the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) formed a government under Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee for a year. Following fresh elections, the NDA government, again headed by Vajpayee, lasted for a full term in office. For the next ten years the BJP was the principal opposition party. In the 2014 general election, Narendra Modi led it to a landslide victory. Narendra Modi was sworn in as the 15th Prime Minister of India on 26 May 2014.

BJP won the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections by an overwheming three-quarter majority of 325 seats, despite not projecting a chief ministerial candidate before the election.

It also won the state assembly elections in Uttarakhand. The BJP-SAD alliance in Punjab lost the 2017 assembly elections with each winning 3 and 15 seats respectively. In Manipur BJP won 21 seats and 13 seats in Goa. 
Make in India : Under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the initiative of ‘Make in India’ campaign was launched. The campaign was initiated in September 2017 with a view to transform India into a global manufacturing hub

This initiative is aimed to boost multi-national and national firms to manufacturing their products in India. On a broader perspective, the campaign aims to encourage Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) by gaining confidence amongst the potential partners abroad about India’s economic capabilities. 

One of the major objectives of ‘Make in India’ is employment generation and skill enhancement in nearly 25 sectors of the economy. It looks forward to capital and technological investments in India by reaching out to a vast local and global audience with the help of social media in order to keep them updated about various opportunities and reforms.

DEMONETISATION : Demonetisation is a situation where the Central Bank of the country (Reserve Bank in India) withdraws the old currency notes of certain denomination as an official mode of payment. 

On November 8, 2016, Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a surprise announcement said the existing higher denomination currency (Rs 500 and Rs 1000) will cease to be legal tenders. PM said this is government’s biggest push to fight black money and end corruption. The opposition, however, criticised the government for poor implementation of the scheme and said a lot of people have died standing in queues trying to get their hands on the new currency.

The government also introduced new Rs 500 and Rs 2000 notes and urged people to move towards cash-less economy. But the opposition has been protesting the government’s decision, even stalling Parliament. A ‘Jan Aakrosh Diwas’ was observed by Left and other major parties.

This is not the first time that demonetisation has been implemented in India. In 1936, Rs 10,000, which was the highest denomination note, was introduced but was demonetised in 1946. Though, it was re-introduced in 1954 but later, in 1978, the then Prime Minister Morarji Desai in his intensive move to counter the black money, introduced The High Denomination Banks Act (Demonetisation) and declared Rs 500 , Rs 1000 and Rs 10,000 notes illegal.

A lot of analysis in India and abroad claimed that demonetization of November 2016 has failed to do what it was supposed to do and its impact has turned out to be more protracted than initially expected.

Even from the point of view of promoting digital money, the government need not have put 86 per cent of all currency out of circulation. Further studies pointed out that very little black money was caught.

The Reserve Bank of India on August 30, 2017 released its report on demonetisation. In the report, it said 99 per cent of the banned notes came back into the banking system which trashes all claims of Narendra Modi that the move will flush out the black money and counterfeit currency.

With 99 per cent currency back in the system, the failure of demonetization hints two things, either the black money held in cash was very low or the government failed to implement the demonetization efficiently and all the black money held in Rs. 500 and Rs. 1000 bank notes laundered back to the banking system.