Jaitley Criticises Manmohan Singh For Calling Demonetisation ‘Organised Loot’
Jaitley contests Manmohan Singh’s reference to demonetisation as an “organised loot”
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today contested Congress leader and former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s reference to demonetisation as an “organised loot”, and insisted the exercise was an “ethical drive and a moral step” that made corruption difficult.
The loot is what happened in the 2G scam, Commonwealth Games and allocation of coal blocks, whereas demonetisation was an economic exercise based on ethical and moral rationales, Jaitley told reporters at a press conference at the BJP headquarters in New Delhi.
“An anti-black money drive is (an) ethical drive, a moral step. And what is morally and ethically correct has to be politically correct,” the finance minister said, targeting the former Prime Minister.
All that Dr Singh has to do is to compare the relative credibility of Indian economy, internationally pre-2014 and post-2014.Arun Jaitley, Finance Minister
In the run-up to 2014, India was considered an economy impacted by a policy paralysis, so much so that the alphabet ‘I’ was threatened to be knocked off off the term BRICS, Jaitley said.
In an interview with BloombergQuint, former Prime Minister Singh had said the impact of demonetisation on weaker sections of our society and business is far more damaging than any economic indicator can reveal.
“Demonetisation may exacerbate such inequalities which can be harder to rectify in the future. In such a diverse country such as ours, inequality can prove to be a far greater social malaise than in other homogeneous nations,” he had said.
The finance minister said the pace at which government pumped in new currency notes into the economy following demonetisation is an example to the world.
“The pace at which remonetisation was done in 2-3 months is an example in itself, that a currency replacement scheme has happened smoothly,” Jaitley said.
Remonetisation refers the replacement of money to limit the impact of cash shortages on the Indian economy after the November 8 withdrawal of high-value banknotes. After Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government invalidated old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes, the Reserve Bank of India printed new Rs 500 notes and Rs 2,000, and introduced them into the banking system.
The currency in circulation for half year ending September 2017 was Rs 15.89 lakh crore, and reduction in currency in circulation is to the tune of Rs 3.89 lakh crore, Jaitley said in a blog earlier today.
Elaborating on the benefits of demonetisation, the minister said it was aimed at making India a more formal economy with a broader tax base and less cash in the system. “Less cash in the system may not end corruption but makes corruption difficult,” he said, adding terror funding got “squeezed” post-demonetisation.
(With inputs from PTI)