New Delhi, Dec 13: RSS ideologue S Gurumurthy, who is among those who are regularly consulted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi since demonetisation, has said the new Rs 2,000 notes will be phased out within the next five years.
Gurumurthy, who is addressing meetings in the city in support of the note ban, said in a TV interview that the government is “committed” to moving towards smaller-denomination notes, and high-denomination notes would be done away over a period of time.
Gurumurthy’s observation has come in the wake of reports of seizure of more than Rs 70 crore of new Rs 2,000 notes in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and Delhi since November 10 when they were released.
Since then, Modi has been under attack from the Opposition leaders for introducing
the Rs 2,000 notes.
Gurumurthy, who is a chartered accountant, is said to have been asked by the prime minister to help BJP ministers and others to counter the Congress leaders.
This was after former prime minister Manmohan Singh spoke on the adverse impact of demonetisation in the Rajya Sabha. Singh described demonetisation, which is being hailed as a “masterstroke” by Modi , as an “organised loot and legalised plunder” and “monumental mismanagement”. Gurumurthy said the Rs 2,000 notes were “only a bridge” as the government had to bring it in place of the old
Rs 1,000 notes.
I-T dept recovers Rs 1.56 cr from bank
In one of the biggest seizures in Rajasthan so far, the Income Tax department has seized cash and jewellery worth Rs 2.02 crore from a cooperative bank, DHNS reports from Jaipur.
Of the seized amount of Rs 1.56 crore, Rs 1.38 crore was in new Rs 2,000 notes. On Sunday, I-T officials had raided the offices of St Wilfred College and the residence of Keshav Badaya, secretary of St Wilfred Education Society and chairman of the Integral Urban Co-operative Bank. Later, on Monday, it seized unaccounted-for gold jewellery worth Rs 45 lakh from two lockers of the Sodala branch of the bank, which it raided the day before.
“After recovering the unaccounted-for Rs 1.56 crore notes, we found that Rs 1.38 crore was in new currency. The notes were numbered in a serialised manner, which indicates that they were obtained from another bank,” an I-T official said.
Discounts on digital purchase
Customers buying petrol and diesel from PSU outlets using credit and debit cards will get a rebate of 0.75% from the intervening night of Monday and Tuesday, DHNS reports from New Delhi.
This is part of several incentives announced by the government last week to encourage the use of digital payments.
“As a part of these initiatives, to promote cashless transactions, the Government of India has announced to incentivise petrol/diesel customers transacting at PSU petrol pumps by way of 0.75% discount when a customer uses debit/credit cards, mobile wallets and prepaid loyalty cards,” India’s largest oil retailer IOC said in a statement.
‘Continue stir against note ban’
Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati asked her party leaders to build up agitation against the note ban issue, and be in the forefront in opposing the BJP in Uttar Pradesh, DHNS reports from Lucknow.
In a meeting of BSP office bearers in Delhi last week, Mayawati, however, told her leaders that they should not be seen siding with the Samajwadi Party (SP) over demonetisation. She also asked her partymen to make every effort to isolate the SP.
Since Uttar Pradesh is going to polls early next year, Mayawati does not want to let go of the currency crisis to corner the BJP.
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