Top 5 demonetisation news of the day: Prithviraj Chavan suggests Rs 200 notes; BJP leader held

The central government’s decision to demonetise high value Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes was taken after detailed deliberation and not in haste, said the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Wednesday, adding that it will maintain a steady supply of new currency to ease the cash crunch. The central bank also said Rs 11.85 lakh crore or 80 percent of junked notes have come back into the system in the last one month.

“The decision was not and has not been taken in haste, but after detailed deliberations,” said RBI governor Urjit Patel, following the fifth bi-monthly monetary policy review. “The consequences that have emanated from that were taken on board. That is why the planning, the process and implementation were what it was, keeping in mind the high secrecy that had to be maintained. The central bank and the government were conscious of certain immediate difficulties for the public at large and all efforts were made to mitigate them,” he added.

Patel told the media that problems of common citizens were at “the top of our radar” and all dispensation was put into place “so that the period for disruption is minimal while we recalibrate our note supply to the denomination that were not withdrawn in terms of legal tender character”.

BJP leader arrested in Kolkata

Manish Sharma, a BJP leader and party candidate from Ranigunj in Bengal’s Burdwan district, was nabbed from Baguihati on Wednesday, while trying to exchange old currency notes in bulk, said a senior officer of the Kolkata police’s special task force.

Six other persons involved in the mining business were also arrested along with Sharma for trying to exchange old currency notes.

Bank guard fires in air to disperse crowd in Punjab

With an impatient crowd trying to force their way into a branch of a private bank in Punjab’s Budhlada town, a security guard fired in the air to disperse them, police said.

The security guard standing outside an HDFC Bank branch in Budhlada, nearly 190 km from Chandigarh, fired three shots in the air from his weapon after being unsettled by the rush at the bank trying to get notes exchanged. The crowd, which almost damaged the glass doors of the bank branch, ran helter-skelter after shots were fired in the air. No case was registered by the police.

CBI arrests bank official, two businessmen

The CBI arrested a senior manager of Central Bank of India and two owners of a firm in Bengaluru for allegedly violating RBI guidelines on scraping of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes, under sections of IPC dealing with criminal conspiracy and cheating as well as abuse of official position under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

The agency had registered an FIR against S Lakshimnarayana, senior manager and branch head of Central Bank of India’s Basavanagudi branch, and directors of Omkar Parimal Mandir, S Gopal and Ashwin G Sunkur. During the searches at the residence of bank officials and private persons, the agency claimed to have recovered incriminating documents, including bank vouchers, counterfoils, DDs, property documents, hard disks and Rs 5,91,500 in cash in old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes.

The three were called for questioning at the CBI office in Bengaluru on Wednesday morning and were placed under arrest after they allegedly failed to answer questions.

UK MP calls on India to end stress for NRIs

Britain’s longest serving Indian-origin MP Virendra Sharma has called the Indian government to end the uncertainty surrounding demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes for NRIs and PIOs.

The 69-year-old Labour party MP said he received several calls and letters on the issue from citizens in his constituency, the heavily Indian-origin area of Ealing, Southall, in south-west London. The move has rattled many British-Indians, who make up 2.5 percent of the population of England and Wales according to a 2011 UK government census and the Indian-born MP wants New Delhi to authorise Indian banks with operations in the UK to open accounts for deposits of Indian currency.

Former CM suggests introduction of Rs 200 notes

Former Maharashtra chief minister Prithviraj Chavan has suggested that currency notes of Rs 200 denomination should be introduced, going on to say that there was no need to bring into circulation Rs 1,000 notes again.

Chavan aired this view during his speech in the state Assembly, where the Opposition parties criticised the Modi government for troubling the poor people, including farmers, vendors and villagers. On restrictions imposed upon district cooperative banks, the Opposition demanded that chief minister Devendra Fadnavis use his good offices to convince the central government and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley to solve the issue, as transactions banks have come to a grinding halt.

“The rural economy is on the verge of collapse,” Chavan said, questioning the wisdom behind the demonetisation decision. Ridiculing the idea of a cashless economy, Chavan said no where in the world has such kind of economy been fully implemented.

With inputs from agencies