On November 8, 2016, the government of India announced the demonetisation of all ₹500 and ₹1,000 banknotes. The basic idea was to make sure that fake currency notes are caught, and the people who were hiding black money are identified. For a commoner like me and many other’s, it was a kind of declaration that was hard to take, because standing in line for long hours and attending and managing daily tasks was tiring and frustrating. Within a few days, it was clear that the decision regarding taking that step, was not done properly.
Instead of releasing ₹500 rupees note the government first announced the ₹2000 ones, making it more frustrating, as no one was accepting it. Somehow, all of us passed that period, forgot about that incident and went ahead in our lives.
There are n-number of topics that the Indian media keeps on discussing and highlighting, but no one talks about, or I would say have completely ignored and forgotten about, those 100+ odd people who died because of either standing for hours, due to shock and other circumstances during demonetisation. The death of any individual is, of course, a tragedy for that individual, but moreover for those that they leave behind.
The Congress in the Rajya Sabha had said, “It is a matter of shame that govt refuses to pay tributes to people killed due to demonetisation.”
“We have been saying for a long time that over 100 people have died because of demonetisation,” said Ghulam Nabi Azad in Rajya Sabha. “But the government refused to pay tribute to the deceased,” he added.
Even these comments didn’t highlight the issue as much as they did to what was asked about their party leader Rahul Gandhi during the Gujarat campaign election.
The decision and those deaths literally came as a Demon in the life of those families who lost their loved ones because of this decision which was among the worse implementations in modern Indian history as their are many others.
Demonetisation is part, and only part, of trying to clean up the Indian economy so that it can grow in a new modern approach. 100 deaths is 100 tragedies
I am not against the government for implementing new ideas and schemes because constructive and productive ideas make our country better. But when those things which matter more are discussed less, and those who have no connection in the improvement of the life of a common Indian at this point of time are discussed in a manner that we are left with no news, what can we do?
The media and the common people have forgotten the deaths because of we as citizens, respect the dignity and hardship are on which this country is built, and we all want it to be improved in all sphere’s. But by not forgetting those who lost their precious family members when these improvement schemes were announced, we are doing them a grave misdeed. Demonetisation, for many, acted as a demon destroying their lives along with that of their families.