“This Is Not What We Proposed,” Says Anil Bokil – The Man Behind The Demonetisation Move

Anil Bokil, a social activist who founded the Arthakranti Pratishthan suddenly came into limelight when acting upon his advice, Prime Minister Narendra Modi implemented the demonetisation of higher denomination currency notes from November 9. The demonetisation has caused utter chaos in the nation, with people still queuing up in large numbers outside banks and ATMs and a large number of economic activities have come to a standstill.

However, the brain behind the bold move is not happy with its implementation by the government saying, “This is not what we proposed”.

“The government has only taken one part of our five-point plan. We had a proper transition plan from large currency denominations to smaller ones.”

 

Bokil says that this move is not actually demonetisation as the government has replaced high denomination notes with an even higher one. He says that the government has just taken a leaf out the book and is hoping to set everything right in just two months.

According to the think-tank’s plan, the first step should have been the introduction of Banking Transaction Tax (BTT) which would remove all taxes currently imposed by Central, State Governments and local bodies and impose just one tax on banking transactions instead.

 

According to Bokil, it would take some time to return to normalcy adding that the government should have at least stuck to their transition plan.

“The ₹500 and ₹1000 currencies account for close to 85% of notes in circulation… If you ban the entire lot in one go, how you will manage the flow of currencies?”

The government must withdraw all denominations above ₹50 in phases and the entire transition to smaller currencies would take place over 18 months.

 

According to the think-tank, this move would not do much to curb the issue of black money and it would merely cut the flow of fake currency notes in the nation.

“It could be matters relating to national security that forced the government to take such a snappy step. If that’s the case, we heartily welcome this move.”

According to the think-tank, their five-point plan would help the common citizens as they will have to pay tax only on their banking transactions. Moreover, the government and banks would get more money from this than the current taxation system.