V. SRIDHAR
Narendra Modi’s "surgical strike on black money" through demonetisation tears asunder the lives of vast sections of the poor, promoting a gigantic transfer of income and wealth from the poor to the rich on a scale unprecedented since Independence. By V. SRIDHAR
For most of November, millions of Indians stood in queues outside banks and ATMs across the country, patiently waiting to collect a fraction of what was legitimately theirs. December came and nothing changed. Considering the scale on which an entire population remained literally on its feet, which also resulted in nearly 100 deaths as is being reported from across the country, what was truly remarkable was the fact that a nation chose to remain sullen instead of turning angry or violent.
As India lurches into the second month of its tryst with demonetisation, it has quickly become evident that this is an unprecedented onslaught on the poor. The country has never faced an economic crisis of the kind it is undergoing now and there is no historic precedent to learn from, from anywhere in the world. Reports from across the country—corroborated by an array of reports from Frontline correspondents, from almost a dozen States—show that the foolhardy and reckless economic experiment has wrought havoc on lives and livelihoods in ways that could not have been even imagined.
A nation in agony
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