Mangaluru: In a bid to explain demonetisation, its effects and benefits, Union Minister of Commerce and Industry, Nirmala Sitharaman spoke to a gathering of Mangaloreans at Hotel Ocean Pearl on Thursday, January 12. In her address, she mentioned that a pact had been signed between India and Swiss Bank to expose the details of Indian black money holders.
Giving an outline on the purpose behind the demonetisation move, Nirmala said, “The prime objective of this move is to root out terror funding, flush out black money and put a halt to fake currency, all at once. This step had to be taken in order to cut the inflow of money to drug mafia, naxal funding and other wrong causes. The main objective of the government was to eradicate black money in the possession of corrupt people.”
Mentioning that demonetisation will ensure a clean economy and enhance GDP growth, Nirmala added, “The BJP’s first priority after the elections was to curb black money and demonetisation is the path we chose to achieve it. Congress failed to form an SIT to check black money as ordered by the Supreme Court. When BJP came to power, SIT was given importance and it was established.
Speaking about exposing Indian account holders of Swiss Bank, she disclosed that an agreement had been signed with Switzerland to share information about Indian account holders and from 2018, the data would be released and necessary action taken.
Regarding the income declaration of people, she said, “We all had 50 days of time to deposit the legitimate earnings of people in 500 and 1,000 rupee notes. Neither did the banks nor the government question the legitimacy of proportionate income. The government also came up with new conditions taking into consideration, the reality report.”
Speaking to the gathering, MP Nalin Kumar Kateel said, “It is to be recalled that after the demonetisation move was implemented, a priest from a temple and owner of Vardhaman Hotel showed their support in their own ways. During one of the Mann Ki Baath programmes, Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself lauded the support given by Mangalore people in this matter.”
He further went on to say, “The bank employees went through a lot of inconvenience during demonetisation as they had to work for longer hours without creating nuisance to customers. With regard to digitalization of banks, around a hundred villages have been identified in Dakshina Kannada District and the whole district will be digitalized by the end of March.”
Responding to one question from the audience regarding complete boycott of Chinese products, Nirmala said that it was impossible to stop imports from any country. “But an anti-dumping duty can be imposed on countries like China so as to stop dumping of cheap goods into India. We are taking necessary steps to stop dumping. We rely on reports from Indian industries to tell us the extent of cheap Chinese imports that cause instability. We then assess the situation and impose anti-dumping duty on such imports so as to make them expensive and stop lower quality goods from entering the market”, she concluded.
