NEW DELHI -- Former finance minister P Chidambaram has again warned against the perils of demonetisation, especially the security threats that could be faced by the users.
Addressing an All India Congress Committee (AICC) meeting in New Delhi on Friday, he said PM's demonetisation drive which is aimed at weeding out black money, is a serious threat to privacy.
Relying solely on digital payments also carries serious issues of privacy and cost to the payer and the payee.P Chidambaram
"We support encouraging high-value transactions to adopt the digital mode, but to insist that even low-value transactions should go cashless is an absurd and undesirable goal. There are serious issues of privacy and cost to the payer and the payee. These issues require serious debate," said Chidambaram.
"No economy is, or can be completely cashless," he emphasised.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had removed ₹500 and ₹1,000 notes on 8 November, billing it as an attempt to root out corruption, end terror financing and move the country into the age of digital payments.
Chidambaram also reiterated that PM Modi's argument about scrapping ₹500 and ₹1,000 notes being related to fake currency being used for terrorism purposes did not hold water.
"Casualty and terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir show that demonetisation hasn't worked there either. New Currency was found on terrorist who were killed in Bandipore," he said.
No economy is, or can be completely cashless.
"PM Modi had promised the nation that the problems faced due to demonetisation would come to end very soon, and had asked us to give him 50 days. When the PM addresses the nation tomorrow [31 December], the people will expect that he will make a categorical announcement that all restrictions on money have ended," Chidambaram said.
After PM Modi's announcement on 8 November, the RBI and the Ministry of Finance have issued over 60 different directives so far, about how much money can be withdrawn from bank accounts, and which documents are needed for depositing old cash. The mixed messages as well as the cash crunch have snowballed the overall confusion in the country.
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