oppn parties Not A Well Thought Out Decision

Story Of The Day

Bankipur Falls: The Seat BJP Could Not Afford to Lose Has Fallen

August 10, 2026

People Are Talking About

People Are Talking About the Language of Gen Z

News Snippets

  • Supreme Court rules that functional disability should be the deciding factor in granting road accident damages and not any doctor-issued disability certificate
  • Supreme Court flagged the fact that nearly 56% of the vehicles plying in India were uninsured and asked the government to challan them
  • An Air India flight from Phuket to Delhi encountered severe turbulence and 17 passengers were admitted to hospital with injuries
  • Calcutta HC said that heavens won't fall if Vande Matram is made mandatory to sing in madrasas
  • Kolkata Municipal Corporation has sought government nod for increasing city's wards to 200+ to keep residents in each ward between 16000 to 18000
  • Government has said that partially filled online Census forms may be allowed
  • Government may allow fees on UPI payments above Rs 2000, except on transfer between two individuals
  • Brent crude falls below $80 per barrel
  • Government has increased the LIC offer for sale to Rs 31,400cr with an additional 4% on the block
  • Stock markets become nervous on Tuesday due to Gulf situation: Sensex slides 210 points and Nifty sheds 159 points ahead of RBI MPC meets today
  • Indian cricket team lands in Sri Lanka for a 2-Test series
  • A former French Navy pilot who had alleged that IAF had lost Rafales during Operation Sindoor has been held in France on spying charges
  • An ordinary zari worked living just 100km away from Kolkata was stunned to find Rs 100cr deposited in the bank account. The bank has frozen her account pending enquiry
  • Businessmen in Kolkata gets a Rs 5-crore extortion call, allegedly from the Lawrence Bishnoi gang
  • NTA floats tenders to secure offices and exam materials round-the-clock
Tarun Tejpal, former editor of Tehelka, was sentenced to 10 years in jail by Bombay HC for raping a colleague. This judgment overturns the acquittal by a Goa sessions court
oppn parties
Not A Well Thought Out Decision

By Our Editorial Team
First publised on 2023-05-23 06:04:32

About the Author

Sunil Garodia The India Commentary view

Most government policy decisions are said to be well thought out - or they should be. Since they are well thought out, they must be clear and must not cause problems for the citizens. But the decision of the RBI to withdraw the Rs 2000 banknote with a deadline to deposit or exchange them does not seem to be one such policy decision.

Consider the fact that the RBI has stopped printing Rs 2000 banknotes from 2018 onwards. Hence, their share in the total currency in the economy has dropped down to just 11%. Banks have for long stopped giving Rs 2000 currency notes when customers withdraw cash. They have stopped receiving the same from currency chests and were only giving such notes in withdrawals by customers as and when another customer deposited the same.

Hence, if the current position was allowed to continue, with a little more strictness (with direction to banks not to issue any notes to the public but deposit them with the currency chests as and when any customer deposited the same in their accounts), the share of the said notes would have been reduced to an insignificant number in a couple of years. But the RBI public circular has caused an unnecessary alarm.

The worst part is that the apex bank has said that the notes remain legal tender and then prescribed a timeline within which they have to be exchanged or deposited. This has confused everyone and it is demonetization by another name. The very fact that the RBI has been forced to issue several daily clarifications shows that the decision was not well thought out and the original announcement lacked clarity. The apex bank has faltered. It should have let the note remain legal tender and should have squeezed it out of circulation by prohibiting banks from issuing it back. That would have not confused the citizenry and not caused such alarm.

Other Stories You Make Like

Editorials

Accountability Cannot Be a Precondition to Debate

Accountability Cannot Be a Precondition to Debate

 When the State Fears Its Own Youth

When the State Fears Its Own Youth

In Depth

The Taxman's Doppelganger: How India's ITR Filing Deadline Became a Phishing Season

The Taxman's Doppelganger: How India's ITR Filing Deadline Became a Phishing Season

Editor's Pick

Kangana Ranaut's War on 'Generation Gutter'

Kangana Ranaut's War on 'Generation Gutter'
© 2014 India Commentary. All rights reserved.