Decision To Demonetise Will Cause ‘Grievous Injury’ To The Honest Indian: Manmohan Singh

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's notes ban decision “will cause grievous injury to the honest Indian who earns wages in cash,” former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said in a fierce critique published in The Hindu on Friday, adding that the move is a "travesty of his fundamental duty”.

In his editorial - "Making of a Mammoth Tragedy" - Singh predicts that demonetisation will have a ripple effect on GDP and job creation, while the black money hoarder will get away with a “mere rap on the knuckles”.

"More than 90 per cent of India’s workforce still earn their wages in cash," he writes, adding that 600 million Indians still live in a town or village with no bank and to “throw the lives of these hundreds of millions of poor people in disarray is a mammoth tragedy.”

He describes the intention behind the notes ban - checking tax evasion and fake money used by terrorists - as honourable and worthy of whole-hearted support. But, he points out, that the underlying premise behind this decision is the “false notion that all cash is black money and all black money is in cash”.