New Delhi: On November 8, 2016, the Narendra Modi government implemented demonetisation to curb the circulation of black money. Prime Minister Modi had announced that the currency notes of denominations 500 and 1000 were not valid from midnight of November 8.
As per the government, the main objective of the decision was to boost digital transactions, bring down hard money circulation, and check black money transactions. In place of the old notes, currency notes of new denominations of value 500 and 2000 became functional.
As the demonetisation marks five years, the Opposition claims that no benefit came out of it.
Opposition Slams Demonetisation
Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Monday hit out at the Central government on the completion of five years of demonetisation and questioned that if the move was successful, why hasn't it been able to put a leash on corruption? She tweeted, “If demonetisation was successful, why hasn't corruption ended? Why hasn't black money come back? Why hasn't the economy gone cashless? Why hasn't terrorism taken a hit? Why hasn't price rise been reined in?”
Meanwhile, Senior NCP leader Nawab Malik also took a jibe on the Central government saying “Neither black money returned, nor terrorism stopped”
Trinamool Congress leader and Rajya Sabha MP Derek O'Brien also tweeted on the same issue.
Notes In Circulation Increase With Digital Transactions
According to the latest Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data, the notes in circulation in terms of value soared from Rs 17.74 lakh crore on November 4, 2016, to Rs 29.17 lakh crore on October 29, 2021.
As per the RBI, the value of the notes in circulation as of October 30, 2020, was Rs 26.88 lakh crore that increased by Rs 2,28,963 crore as of October 29, 2021. The year-on-year increase on October 30, 2020, was Rs 4,57,059 crore. The data revealed the year-on-year increase in NIC on November 1, 2019, was Rs 2,84,451 crore.