Democracies Must Respect Citizens' Rights

India’s literate citizens have read reams, through November 2016, about the Prime Minister’s drive to demonetize all 500 and 1000 rupee currency notes. This initiative will supposedly flush out black money, halt corruption and put a stop to counterfeit money. These are all laudable objectives that are hard to object to, so what could be amiss?

From a personal perspective, it is galling that those of us who work hard and pay our taxes should be denied access to our own money, even for a day! No matter all the talk about cashless transactions, most middle class Indians require cash each day – to buy the milk for breakfast, to pay the three-wheeler rickshaw, to pay for small groceries at the corner store on the way home – and these demonetized notes are after all equivalent to approximately 7.5 and 15 US dollars respectively.

On another level, I object to supporters who dismiss the trials and tribulations, being suffered by those most in need, as a ‘temporary hardship’. No dear friends, this chaos is the direct result of poor preparation, inadequate foresight and abysmal implementation. There is no denying that the economically oppressed should have been cushioned from the dreadful impact of these overnight actions. A leader risen from humble origins should have guarded against this erosion of the daily earnings and small savings of countless Indians.

Finally, perhaps the most worrying concern is the unilateral and autocratic approach that has been employed through this whole exercise. I am not entirely surprised. Most thinking Indians cannot be unaware of our top man’s individualistic, macho, muscle-flexing approach. Should we then be surprised that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) seems to have relinquished its autonomy as it toes the line drawn by the Finance Ministry? Did RBI ask Government for more time to print new currency, bolster the infrastructure and create the processes that would be needed to iron out the wrinkles in as mammoth an undertaking as was being embarked upon by our ambitious prime minister?

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