'Fought And Won Decisive Battle,' Says PM Modi On Notes Ban: 10 Points

By: Express Web Desk | New Delhi | Updated: November 8 2017 10:07 am Demonetisation anniversary: On November 8 2016 the Narendra Modi-led government had announced the removal of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 currency notes from circulation. (Express Illustration) Related News Demonetisation anniversary: The consequences of 8/11 and how it changed IndiaDemonetisation anniversary: Last year Pune banks kept running out of cash today they face problem of plentyDemonetisation anniversary: New numbers are in 1.5 million jobs lost in January-April this yearThe BJP and Congress-led Opposition are likely to lock horns on Wednesday on the first anniversary of demonetisation. While the ruling party is celebrating November 8 as anti-black money day several Opposition parties have decided to observe it as a Black Day. Several Union ministers and BJP leaders will be highlighting the benefits of demonetisation across the country today. On November 8 2016 the Narendra Modi-led government had withdrawn Rs 500 and Rs 1000 currency notes from circulation in a bid to curb corruption and black money. On Tuesday Finance Minister Arun Jaitley described demonetisation a as watershed moment for the Indian economy. Reacting to former prime minister Manmohan Singh s criticism of demonetisation Jaitley said the move was contradictory to the loot that happened in the second generation spectrum scam Commonwealth Games and allocation of coal blocks . Demonetisation anniversary LIVE updates: 10.05 am: Black money eliminated says Govt. Let the Gujarat election campaign start and you will find the eliminated black money tweets P Chidambaram. 9.50 am: Former finance minister P Chidambaram said reiterated his stand against demonetisation. On demonetisation Black Day read real-life stories say a prayer for the millions who suffered. Can any one deny lives were lost small businesses closed and jobs were lost? he wrote on Twitter. 9.20 am: CPIM General Secretary Sitaram Yechury said the growth figures in India had plummeted due to demonetisation. Ignore the Spin and PR this is the harsh reality of #Demonetisation. India s economic growth has slumped he wrote on Twitter with an infographic on GDP growth. 9.05 am: BJP workers in PM Modi s constituency Varanasi celebrate the first anniversary of demonetisation as anti-black money day. 8.55 am: A day earlier former prime minister Manmohan Singh said the demonetisation move was organised loot and legalised plunder. Hitting back at Singh Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said Singh seemed to be reading scripts written by someone else just like Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi. Manmohan Singhji has said that note ban was a dacoity. This is not Manmohan Singhji s language he added. Read more here. 8.45 am: A day earlier Home Minister Rajnath Singh had accused the Congress of unleashing malicious propaganda on demonetisation and the Goods and Services Tax (GST) and said these measures would lead to major gains in the long run. This is short term pain for long term gains and these measures would not only bring reforms but have also squeezed terror funding he said on Tuesday. 8.32 am: Demonetisation was a populist measure done in the name of the poor. But like many revolutions done in the name of the poor it hurt them by extracting the highest price from them Pratap Bhanu Mehta writes in The Indian Express today. Read the full story here. 8.25 am: Following the footsteps of PM Narendra Modi several BJP leaders Union ministers and state BJP units took to Twitter to share their thoughts on anti-black money day . From Suresh Prabhu to Vijay Goel leaders are celebrating November 8 as anti-black money day. 8.20 am: Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi said noteban move was a thoughtless act. Demonetisation was a tragedy. We stand with millions of honest Indians whose lives & livelihoods were destroyed by PM s thoughtless act he wrote on Twitter. 8.10 am: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee criticises the noteban move. Demonetisation is a big scam. I repeat demonetisation is a big scam. If thorough investigation is conducted this will be proved she wrote in a Facebook post on Tuesday. Contrary to government claims Mamata alleged that demonetisation was not to combat black money. It was only to convert black money into white money for vested interests of political party in power. Black money became white fund for them she said. 8.00 am: Congress organises Marathon in Chhattisgarh to observe black day on demonetisation anniversary reports ANI. 7.40 am: Prime Minister Narendra Modi takes to Twitter to share the success of demonetisation. I bow to the people of India for steadfastly supporting the several measures taken by the Government to eradicate corruption and black money he tweeted. The Prime Minister also shared a short film on benefits of demonetisation. Here are the benefits of demonetisation encapsulated in this short film. Have a look. #AntiBlackMoneyDay pic.twitter.com/rPmGUYnTzI Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) November 8 2017 7.35 am: Union Ministers Nitin Gadkari Ananth Kumar Nirmala Sitharaman Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi Suresh Prabhu and Smriti Irani will speak to the media in Mumbai Hyderabad Chennai Chandigarh Jaipur and Lucknow respectively reported news agency PTI. 7.30 am: Union Ministers Prakash Javadekar and Piyush Goyal will address press conferences in Bengaluru and Ahmedabad respectively. Union Minister Jayant Sinha has also been drafted for the exercise according to sources. Read Demonetisation anniversary full coverage For all the latest India News download Indian Express App IE Online Media Services Pvt Ltd More Related News Note ban organised loot real offenders escaped: Manmohan Singh in Gujarat Demonetisation anniversary: At industrial hub shut factories impatient workers Tags: Demonetisation - One year later Narendra Modi The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday denied that there was anything political about Prime Minister Narendra Modi s meeting with DMK President M. Karunanidhi saying it was just a courtesy visit . In politics there are certain social courtesies which are necessary irrespective of political alliances and relationship and the Prime Minister was acting only according to them Finance Minister Arun Jaitley told reporters. On a half-day trip to Chennai Modi on Monday called on Karunanidhi and enquired about his health. Modi was with the DMK leader for about 10 minutes before winding up his visit to the city during which he took part in the 75th anniversary celebrations of Tamil newspaper Dina Thanthi. The Prime Minister was briefed about Karunanidhi s health by his doctor. This was for the first time that Modi met Karunanidhi at his residence. CHENNAI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi sprang a surprise by calling on ailing DMK chief M Karunanidhi on Monday and inviting him to stay at his official residence in New Delhi to take rest. The meeting of the political adversaries more importantly between Modi and DMK working president M K Stalin triggered speculation. The meeting happened two days before the DMK s anti-demonetisation agitations scheduled for the first anniversary of the reform. It came as a shock to many in the AIADMK - whose ministers have been openly advocating a tie-up with the BJP - and the Congress a long-time ally of the DMK. Modi is visiting Karunanidhi for the first time after assuming office as PM but his association with late chief minister J Jayalalithaa was well known. After becoming PM Modi once visited Jayalalithaa at her residence for a luncheon meeting. Modi s invitation to Karunanidhi to stay in his official residence left even senior DMK leaders surprised. They were at pains to discount any political significance to the meeting. The visit to the Gopalapuram residence of the DMK patriarch was kept discreet till BJP national general secretary P Muralidhar Rao in charge of TN tweeted at 8.37 am just an hour before Modi landed in Chennai. Modi spent 10 minutes at the house and met Karunanidhi s ailing wife Dayalu Ammal also. Holding Karunanidhi s hand Modi asked Will you come and stay in my New Delhi residence and take rest? The DMK leader who is speechless after tracheotomy last year smiled and presented his book Kuralvoviyam a commentary on Tirukkural (English version) by saint-poet Tiruvalluvar and Murasoli s 75th anniversary souvenir-book. Modi later tweeted: Met former Tamil Nadu CM Thiru M Karunanidhi and enquired about his health. Met former Tamil Nadu CM Thiru M Karunanidhi and enquired about his health. @kalaignar89 https://t.co/ybrMWnAWEc Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) 1509958449000 The PM reached Gopalapuram at 12.15pm and was received by DMK working president M K Stalin and Rajya Sabha MP Kanimozhi both children of Karunanidhi. Modi was accompanied by defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Union minister of state for home Pon Radhakrishnan. BJP state president Tamilisai Soundararajan a strident critic of the DMK was among the first to arrive at Karunanidhi s residence. Kanimozhi s mother Rajathi Ammal Stalin s sister Selvi and senior DMK leaders S Duraimurugan and TKS Elangovan were also present. While leaving the house Modi was seen holding Stalin s hand exchanging pleasantries with him and Kanimozhi. He waved to reporters gathered outside the house and a handful of BJP supporters who raised slogans hailing him. A few minutes after Modi left the Gopalapuram resi dence Karunanidhi came out to the portico and greeted party cadres and journalists. He waved to the crowd and was wheeled back inside. We should not impute political motives to the meeting. Thalaivar s (Karunanidhi) health has been improving. Several leaders have been calling on him. Similarly the Prime Minister too came to meet him. Very soon Thalaivar will meet party cadres said Kanimozhi. This is not the first time that Modi has sprung a surprise during his visit to Chennai. In 2015 after attending the National Handloom Day celebration he met an ailing Thuglak editor Cho Ramaswamy at his residence. Demonetisation wasn t really a familiar economic term for an average person in India. That however changed on the evening of 8 November 2016 when Prime Minister Narendra Modi appeared on national television and announced the scrapping of Rs 500 Rs 1 000 currency notes effective from the midnight. The RBI custodian of currency seemed to have very little role to play throughout the demonetisation exercise from Day One. Modi sold his big move with three original goals to 125 crore Indians kill black money and counterfeit notes and root out terror funding. The other targets that were subsequently added in the government-narrative were killing corruption creating a cashless economy and expanding the tax base and revenues.One year after demonetisation was imposed upon the economy none of these targets have been achieved meaningfully to give major tangible gains. This wasn t unexpected for the simple reason that much of the black money was not in cash but in other assets; cash constituted only a fraction hence targeting cash was never a good idea some economists argued. The costs of this exercise have far outweighed the gains in the form of a very severe hit on the informal economy (big employer to millions of workers) destruction of supply chains job losses and revenue loss to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) that also showed in low dividend payments to the government. These apart the pain inflicted on the common man who was forced to stand in serpentine queues for months on end to withdraw own money alleged loss of lives and loss of income streams are not measurable using conventional economic tools. In hindsight a cost-benefit analysis of the exercise makes one wonder whether the economy (which as limping back to health) really needed such a massively disruptive shock-therapy that inflicted pain on every constituent of economy with no clear gains.A file photo of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. ReutersModi s political masterstrokeBefore looking in detail to each of the stated objectives of demonetisation one must understand that it was never a pure economic policy move. This was Modi s biggest political gamble ever since he came to power at the Centre in 2014. Modi sold demonetisation as the big war of poor on the undeserving rich in the society. Rallies after rallies Modi called upon the middle class and the poor to suffer pain to achieve the larger objective of a cleaner transparent society.Demonetisation was offered to them as their one big chance in life to challenge the socio-economic inequalities embedded in their lives. The poor happily heeded to Modi s call and made demonetisation their personal battle against the crooks. The results showed clearly in the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls that followed where the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) bagged a landslide victory reducing the opposition to a non-entity in the politically sensitive Hindi heartland. Even a year later the public sentiment indicative from various opinion surveys still tilt largely in favour of Modi regardless of the pain caused by demonetisation. The next big political test for Modi will be Gujarat polls due later this month.Let s now go back to each of the stated objectives of demonetisation to attempt a cost-benefit analysis of the exercise.Did it unearth black money? Undoubtedly the big target of demonetisation was killing the so called black money or money on which no tax is paid. After a year of demonetisation the government has not made any significant progress on recovering black money. According to the RBI data 99 percent of the old Rs 500 and Rs 1 000 notes (totaling Rs 15.44 lakh crore) has come back to the banking system. This clearly meant that the government s expectation that at least Rs 3-4 lakh crore unaccounted money will perish outside the banking system went horribly wrong. The government said about Rs 17 000 crore has been recovered from income tax raids post demonetisation. Also in the aftermath of crackdown of shell companies the government citing a preliminary investigation said in 58 000 bank accounts of 35 000 shell companies over Rs 17 000 crore was deposited and withdrawn post-demonetisation.But these are all small gains compared with what is at stake. Also much of the recovery from these accounts is subject to how much evidence taxman can produce here one needs to wait for results. The Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana the scheme offered to tax cheats elicited a cold response with just Rs 5 000 crore coming out from 21 000 people. But even if one puts together all of this it will constitute only a minute fraction of the total black money estimated to be in the domestic economy not less than Rs 15 lakh crore.Did it curb fake currency? Post demonetisation instances of fake currency seizures have come down sharply said a report in The Times of India (read here). According to the report the face value of fake notes post demonetisation totalled Rs 16 crore less than one-third of the Rs 51.3 crore seized in 2016 and Rs 44.2 crore the year before. According to the data provided by Union finance minister Arun Jaitley total fake currencies seized post the ban is valued at Rs 11.23 crore which is an insignificant figure. From the very beginning it was clear that killing fake currency can t be a safe bet with a tool like demonetisation. It is not feasible to get data on the actual amount of fake currency in circulation in the system but experts cautioned that it is only a matter of time before fake currency rackets start printing counterfeit notes in new currency. In fact there are already reports of fake currencies in new notes being printed in the system.Did it end terror funding? The government claims that demonetisation has choked terror funding. According to Jaitley (read here) post demonetisation there has been a sharp reduction in terror activities in states like Jammu & Kashmir and Chhattisgarh. Terror funding itself has been squeezed Jaitley said addressing the Berkeley India Conference. It is a fact that in the initial months post demonetisation stone pelting incidents have come down in the border areas but such instances have come back as cash returned to the system something former RBI deputy governor KC Chakrabarty had predicted in an interview with Firspost in January this year.Did it create a digital economy? Digital transactions showed a spike in the immediate months post demonetisation but the growth has flattened to normal levels in the months after that. The cash-to-GDP ratio a measure to assess the use of cash by public in the system had fallen into single digits but has again come back to double digits. The ratio was 8.8 percent in fiscal year 2017 from 12.2 percent in fiscal 2016 which has now increased to close to 11 percent. But certain online payment transfer platforms such as UPI have seen significant growth although from a low-base. The number of payments through UPI has increased from 0.1 million in October 2016 to 76.96 million in October 2017. But as this report in The Indian Express points out total value of transactions via electronic payment system hit a high of Rs 149 lakh crore in March 2017 up from Rs 94 lakh crore in November 2016 digital business fell to a low of Rs 107 lakh crore in July 2017 and Rs 109 lakh crore in August.Of course cash remains the preferred tool for small traders and customers in semi urban and rural areas where internet connectivity remains poor. In fact the shift from cash to digital transactions was already happening. Demonetisation has certainly offered a push to the march to digital economy.Did it increase tax base? The government has claimed that post demonetisation tax base has increased substantially adding 9.1 million new taxpayers. Also the government has claimed a 24 percent increase in tax collections. But the question is as a percentage to GDP whether the tax revenues have gone up substantially particularly compared with the costs borne by the economy on account of demonetisation exercise.Cost to the economyDemonetisation added to the pain in the economy that was already facing a slowdown. The economy was not in good health as claimed by Modi to withstand a major surgery. It added to the stress in a sagging economy which logged a 5.7 percent growth in the June quarter. Cash shortage for a prolonged period broke the back of the informal sector. In fact all sectors that are cash incentive suffered in a big way with the supply chains taking a hit. The job losses in the informal sector could explain the spike in the numbers of those opting for Government s minimum wage programme. According to the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) about 1.5 million jobs were lost during January-April 2017. The estimated total employment during the period was 405 million compared with 406.5 million during the preceding four months September-December 2017. CMIE attributed this largely to the demonetisation impact. Businesses too have taken significant hit with most end consumer sales such as two-wheelers slowing down in the months that followed note ban.Was demonetisation really needed?The answer will depend on who you are asking the question to. Politically it has certainly worked well for Modi and the BJP despite all the criticism from Opposition and a section of economists. Certainly after one year of the biggest disruptive economic exercise in India s recent history the costs have far outweighed the projected benefits. There are certain gains that might help the economy in the long term but the pain inflicted on the economic system is real. In the hindsight one could argue that Modi could have avoided such massive shock therapy to clean up the economy inflicting long lasing pain on the informal sector. He instead could have opted for action on specific targets with less disruption to the economy and common life. But admitting his policy mistake is suicidal for any career politician.Catch all the developments on the demonetisation anniversary day here. Taking a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his promise of doubling farmers income in five years his predecessor Manmohan Singh said it would end up just being another election jumla (rhetoric) as the government had no concrete plan to achieve the target. Singh addressing a press conference here today said that in order to achieve the target of doubling farmers income in five years the agriculture sector needed to grow at a rate of 10 per cent. He also slammed the Modi government saying its nice sounding slogans such as Start up India Stand up India and Skill India are not backed by effective policies. In a veiled attack on Modi s style of functioning Singh said leaders should also listen to criticism to take corrective action instead of just expecting praise. Modi has said that he dreamt of seeing farmers income getting doubled by 2022 when the country completes 75 years of its Independence. Singh said that the average growth of agriculture in the first three years of the Modi government is only 1.8 per cent per year. This is half the average of agricultural growth of 3.7 per cent which we have achieved in our ten years (of UPA rule). Stating that 50 per cent of the country s population is dependent of agriculture the former prime minister said Modiji has given the slogan of doubling the farm income in five years. Doubling it in five years requires an annual growth rate of farm incomes of 14 per cent. I do not know if doubling was meant to include the effects of inflation. If he was building in inflation at say four per cent it still requires a growth rate of 10 per cent in real terms Singh said. I have seen no programme that would achieve such a growth for the country s farmers as a whole. Perhaps this is another election jumla (rhetoric). But I feel that the government would be well-advised to come forward with a credible plan to achieve a growth rate of this order Singh said. While sharing his views on the negative effects of demonetisation Singh also took a dig at Modi s other initiatives -- Start up India Stand up India and Skill India saying there exists no policy in place to back these nice sounding slogans . We have a number of nice-sounding slogans such as Start up India Stand up India... But they are not backed up by effective policies on the ground. In fact the policies should come first before the slogans invented to describe these policies. (But today) Slogans come first and efforts come much later. This is not helpful said Singh an eminent economist. In a veiled attack on Modi s style of functioning Singh said leaders should also listen to the criticism to take corrective action instead of just expecting praise. I have spent a lot of time on demonetisation because it worries me that in a world where economic policy is becoming increasingly complex we are not developing a culture where policy option are critically-assessed and criticism offered are heard to take a corrective action he said while expressing his views on the note ban. If leaders only want to be praised they will hear nothing but praise. This is not a recipe for vikas (development) Singh said while referring to Modi s stress on development agenda. The senior Congressman also raised doubts over Modi s claim of making India a developed economy by 2022. He was recently quoted in the press as saying that India will become a developed country by 2022. I would be the happiest person in the world if he can delivers (on) that. But is he really aware of what it implies? Singh asked. According to him Greece which is at the lower end of developed countries has a per capita income of USD 25 000 while India s current per capita income is USD 5 000. To increase our income five fold in five years we will have to achieve a growth rate of 35 per cent per year. No country has ever done this. Is Modiji promising he will do that? Singh asked. Ahmedabad: Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged the people of Gujarat to vote for the BJP in the Assembly polls embracing its development agenda and save the state by rejecting casteism communalism and dynastic politics .File image of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Reuters.On the first day of the BJP s door-to-door outreach drive Gujarat Gaurav Maha-Sampark Abhiyan BJP workers and leaders including its president Amit Shah distributed copies of Modi s message-cum-appeal among people.In the written message addressed to the people of Gujarat Modi urged them to remember what the state was before the BJP assumed power in 1995 and appealed to them to vote for his party to carry forward the journey of development that began 22 years back. Just compare what was Gujarat 22 years back and what it is now. Thanks to the good governance of the BJP governments Gujarat has reached new heights of development so much so that it is now known across the world he said in the message.Modi said a young person of 22-25 years cannot even imagine what Gujarat was in the past when casteism and communalism destroyed it. Now some power-hungry elements are playing the same dirty game. Now it is our collective responsibility to save Gujarat from the evils of casteism communalism and dynastic politics the message read.Modi also slammed the Congress-led UPA governments accusing them of having stalled the Narmada project.The prime minister said though the Congress-led central governments were not favourable to Gujarat the state continued its journey of development.He reminded the people how his government got completed the Sardar Sarovar dam project quickly.Polling for the two-phase elections will take place on 9 and 14 December and votes will be counted on 18 December. Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today said Narendra Modi never met him to make a representation about the Sardar Sarovar dam on river Narmada when the latter was the chief minister of Gujarat. Singh s rebuttal came weeks after Modi alleged that although he met the then prime minister several times on the issue of raising the height of the dam there was no assurance from the erstwhile UPA government on finishing the project. Modiji never held any meeting with me about the issue of the dam Singh said while replying to a question about the Narmada project at a press conference. Refuting Modi s allegation that the project was stalled because the UPA government was anti-Gujarat and anti- development Singh claimed that the previous Congress governments always supported the project. I also want to say that when the World Bank refused to give loan for the project in 1992 I was the Union finance minister. I undertook on behalf of the Government of India that whatever money the World Bank was supposed to give for the Narmada project the Centre will provide that to it he said. During his Vadodara visit last month Modi claimed that every time he went to meet Singh to make a representation about the dam the then prime minister used to express ignorance about the stalled work on it. Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani hit back at Singh insisting numerous representations were made in the past. Even I went to meet Singh numerous times for the Narmada project when I was a Member of Parliament between 2006 and 2012. But they (the UPA government) did not give permission to install gates for seven long years. Singh owes an explanation to the people of Gujarat Rupani said. Nearly 56 years after its foundation was laid the Sardar Sarovar dam became a reality with Modi dedicating it to the nation on September 17 this year. The foundation stone of the dam was laid on April 5 1961 by the country s first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru. However it took 56 years to finally complete the construction due to litigations and protests by the affected villagers. Modi when he was the chief minister of Gujarat sat on a 51-hour fast in 2006 as the UPA government refused to grant permission to raise the height of the dam citing incomplete rehabilitation work. In just 17 days after becoming the prime minister in 2014 the Modi government gave the permission to raise the height of the dam to over 138 metres and install the gates. The work on raising the height of the dam to 138.68 metres was recently completed which will allow maximum usable storage of 4.73 million acre feet of water. The former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has taunted and challenged the incumbent Prime Minister Narendra Modi to own up man-like that demonetisation was a blunder. This is bound to raise the hackles of those who followed his rule or non-rule for 10 years from 2004 to 2014. The monumental 2G and coal blocks scams happened under his watch despite his innocent protestations to the contrary.A charitable explanation for his indifference to what was happening right under his nose was he had coalition compulsions---euphemism for corruption to go on unchecked to keep the rapacious coalition partners financially sated by plundering the country and taxpayers resources or starving the nation s coffers of revenue that were due to it.Coalition compulsions or the more lofty euphemism coalition dharma the fact is Manmohan Singh has to live down the severe strictures tacitly passed against him by the country s highest judicial body the Supreme Court when it in quick succession annulled the 2G telecom licenses and the opaque coal block allotments in the winter of 2014.These cancellations were a slap on his wrists for looking the other side when he should have intervened decisively to guard national interests instead of keeping his political masters and partners happy. That he was not punished by law for his monumental indifference has got more to do with our weak laws which while coming down heavily on criminal misconducts leave governmental excesses or indifference severely alone.File image of Manmohan Singh. PTITo be sure he has not been arraigned before the court which is all set to announce its verdict in the 2G criminal matter in which by and large the DMK first family and its hangers on are in the dock. Fair enough because he was not caught with his hands in the till though he clearly facilitated the loot with his pliable behavior bordering on complicity.It is entirely possible that the criminal case may fall flat for lack of evidence given the fact criminal law is more demanding on evidence to nail an accused. But the outcome of the criminal case has nothing to do with the UPA government s conduct or misconduct---it has been roundly punished by the electorate in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections and in the public eye Manmohan Singh stands condemned for his passivity and complicity.First come first served (FCFS) may be a good policy when poor are being fed or charity is being doled out. Not when the nation s resources are being allotted. That however is what had happened in the 2G licenses allotment.The telecom minister A Raja of DMK orchestrated the whole thing with a thinly guised game plan---announce the deadline for submitting bids to his close friends who bid their way successfully to precious licenses with minimum financial outgo on the back of inside information.To wit let us say a circle was allotted on the basis of the opaque FCFS policy say at the rate of Rs 1700 crore which was later on sold to a telecom company for Rs 10 000 crore post-haste. The resultant loss to the exchequer was Rs 8300 crore which in aggregate became a staggering Rs 1.76 lakh crore as per CAG which Kapil Sibal in the UPA ministry pooh-poohed as a fiction of imagination and smugly came up with a zero loss theory as riposte.That non-serious players got the licenses for a song was amply proved by the subsequent events---many of the licenses were transferred to serious players mainly foreign telecom companies at a hefty premium. In other words the money that should have gone to the exchequer went to private pockets! P. Chidambaram another stalwart in Manmohan Singh cabinet called this financial intelligence touché!Indeed had the license been allotted on the basis of competitive bidding as mandated by the Supreme Court later on for all natural resources the government would have got in the above example Rs 10 000 crore per circle instead of just Rs 1 700 crore.Coal allotment gratis was an even more blatant administrative lapse and the CAG put the loss at Rs 1.86 crore the accuracy of which has been more than borne out by the results of the coal block auctions conducted after the SC cancellation of allotments.Now coming to Narenda Modi s demonetisation. It was marked neither by indifference nor by coalition compulsions. The decision was entirely driven by the noble motive to cleanse the Augustan stables. Sure the seminal and cataclysmic move has upset the economy especially the small traders but its long term effects are there for everyone to see except those with jaundiced eyes.It was the same Manmohan Singh who last year brushed off the long term beneficial effects of demonetisation with the Keynesian facetious remark---in the long run we are all dead---despite knowing the money that was sloshing around in subterranean channels had now come aboard into the banking mainstream.