Hon. Chairperson, Sir, I stand
on behalf of my party to speak on this specified banks note issue. A lot has
been said by all my senior colleagues. So, I would not repeat any of the technical
issues but I would like to ask four or five pointed questions to the hon.
Finance Minister. My first question is this. Demonetization normally is done
when there is extremely high inflation. So, the Government constantly is very
happy and is proudly saying that the inflation is really low at five per cent.
Then, what was the real reason for demonetization? This is my first technical
question. Secondly, the idea of demonetization is to have smaller notes, not
larger notes. In this Government, they have removed thousand rupee and
five hundred rupee notes and introduced two thousand rupee notes. Then,
eventually, they have140 reintroduced five hundred rupee
notes. So, what is the logic of this entire exercise that you have done?160
The reason given by this Government for this entire exercise is removing
of black money, counterfeit notes and making sure that the terrorist activity
goes down. Let us take one point at a time. One aim is reducing corruption.
Truly, do you believe that by this one intervention, corruption in India
has really gone down? A lot has been said about banks. Some of the banks
have very responsibly done the work. But there are a lot of banks where, we
have seen there is a high level of corruption even during exchanges of notes.
So, has this demonetization really served the purpose of what you are looking
for in corruption?
My second point is about
counterfeit notes. Even Dr. Saugata Roy280 extensively
talked about it. If it was such a small exercise, have you really
achieved hundred per cent in removing counterfeit notes? It is because in the
media, we have all seen that fake currency notes are back320
again into the system. This is my point number three. Did the actions of
naxalites and terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir
really decrease? Everybody knows that winter is the time when all the activity
truly goes down. Has it gone down now? So, is it really connected to this? Is
there any database proof that demonetization has reduced all these risks?
I have another point which was
raised earlier. How much money really has come back? It was raised earlier also
and now what I hear from the media is what I want to know because most of our420
information about demonetization is that very less information has come from
the Government and more information has come from the media. Some of it
probably could be speculation but if we get clarifications, I think, all of India
would have a clear idea of what is really going on because unfortunately, we
always thought that all financial480 issues like this were
all issues addressed by the RBI. Since the demonetization, the RBI Governor
probably has opened or made a statement only once. So, we really do not know
whether the RBI is run by the Government in the Finance Ministry or by
the PMO or is it really an independent body? I think we really need to know
this because RBI is an exceptionally independent body which has had a great
stature in the last 65 years since Independence .
So, it560 is a very important and a relevant body which
deserves to have its own independence and all the year it has managed to have
its own identity away from the Government while working with the Government.
So, kindly, you could tell me about this.
Sir, in this cash to cashless
issue, do you want to make it a cashless economy or a less cash economy?
Whatever you want, I do not think any of us are against it. There are a lot of
points. For example, talking about health issues, whether this side640
or that side, nobody disagrees on good health. Of course, we all want good
health. If you are going to eradicate corruption, we are happy to do it but I
think if we could debate it and deliberate it, we could come out with better
solutions. So, if you are looking for a cashless society or a
complete digital India
and700 since it is concerned with cash, have you got
an economist’s behavioural plan which over a period of time will give
you solutions for this?
My point no. 5 is about
digital economy that you keep talking about. It is a welcome step. But do
we have cyber laws for it? Do we have a regulator for it? Do we have rules
for it? Do we have grievance mechanism for it? There was an article about ATMs.
A lot has been said about recalibration of ATMs here. There was an article
about the software that the Indian ATMs have.800 They have
Windows X software in every ATM in India
and now, what we really need is Windows XP which is what the entire globe is
using. Today, Microsoft is not willing to support the hackers in the Windows X.840
So, if we are using Windows X, Microsoft is not willing to take. If it is
really so, what is the plan for all the ATMs that you are looking for from the
security point of view? If you could kindly clarify about that, and
about the transaction fees, whether we like it or not, today, once we all go
digital, it is all going to come at a cost. Sir, you talk about digitizing India .
We are very happy if it is so. Even in Parliament, we do not have wi-fi. If you
sit here, I agree, mobile does not work out of security reasons but wi-fi does
not work even in Indian Parliament. So, if it is not960
going to work here, how is it going to work in all of India ?
So, I think that is the980 first thing. We have to
first implement it here before we talk about doing it for the entire
country.
I have one last point which is
not raised by anybody. It is the concern about the District Cooperative
Banks. I have met the hon. Finance Minister and also the hon. Prime
Minister regarding this issue. Sir, I think the only point we really need to
say is that in this entire demonetization, one section of society which was
completely left out and shown mistrust towards is the District Cooperative
Banks. These are banks who live within the rules and regulations of RBI.
The Finance Ministry controls each one of them. After demonetization, all the
money that was collected for three full days was not accepted. Still that issue
is not addressed. My only pointed question about DCC banks to the1120
hon. Finance Minister is this. After demonetization, since the money was not
accepted, a lot of banks - especially in the State which I represent, which is
Maharashtra, Pune District Bank, Satara District Bank - have been checked by
the RBI. Their books have been changed. There are no counterfeit notes there.
There is no hanky-panky there. I am not saying this. The RBI and all the people
who inquired from the Finance Ministry are saying this. So, why is this kind of
treatment being given to the District Cooperative Banks? They are not owned by
anybody. They are owned by the farmers.
In the hon. Finance
Minister’s Budget speech also, the only point that he made was that a lot of
his projects for rural India Gujarat . So, we urge the
hon. Finance Minister not to treat our District Co-operative Banks disdained
because one of the most affected is the District Cooperative Banks. Sir, even
in Karnataka where you come from, those District Cooperative Banks1400
are affected. So, I urge you to include us in everything because the corruption
has come from private banks and not from District Co-operative Banks. So, I
request him to make sure that we get a fair treatment. There is1440
one last point. When this demonetization was done in 1978, the Ordinance was
immediately brought in. Why is there delay of so many weeks? So, there is
something that looks a bit grey. So, the hon. Finance Minister may clarify all
our doubts and give the country a real direction and the honest truth behind
this demonetization.1496
