₹5,583 crore withdrawn from Jan Dhan accounts in 34 days

NEW DELHI: Jan Dhan accounts have witnessed net withdrawal of Rs 5,582.83 crore since December 7, the day deposits in these accounts soared to all time high in the backdrop of demonetisation. Total deposits had increased to a record high of Rs 74,610 crore on December 7 and thereafter, it started gradual decline to close at Rs 69,027.17 crore on January 11, according to the latest Finance Ministry data.

During the period (December 7 to January 11) the total deposit have came down by Rs 5,582.83 crore. There are about 26.68 crore Jan Dhan accounts. The monthly upper withdrawal limit for Jan Dhan account has been fixed at Rs 10,000 per month from November 30 to check misuse of these accounts.

The upper limit for deposits in Jan Dhan account is Rs 50,000. As of November 9, the day demonetisation of Rs 500/1,000 notes became effective, there were 25.5 crore such accounts with a deposit of Rs 45,636.61 crore.

Total deposits in Jan Dhan accounts surged by around Rs 28,973 crore in about a month after the announcement of ban on old high denomination notes. Meanwhile, the number of Aadhaar seeded Jan Dhan accounts have increased to 15.36 crore in the week ended January 11 from about 13.68 crore on the demonetisation day. The Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana was launched in August 2014 to increase banking penetration and promote financial inclusion in the country.

Meanwhile, ridiculing the Centre's demonetisation policy, senior Congress leader P Chidambaram said in Hyderabad on Sunday that many former RBI Governors had opposed the move, so the Modi government must have “consulted some RSS pracharak” before taking the decision. He said the government's move from demonetisation to ‘remonetisation' was not “notebandi” but “notebadli”.

“...it is a decision taken without consulting those who should have been consulted. The Finance Secretary, the banking secretary and the Chief Economic Advisor were not consulted, so who was consulted?... they must have consulted some RSS pracharak,” Chidambaram said addressing a meeting of Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee here.

The former finance minister said a series of RBI Governors had opposed demonetisation for 27 years and none of them thought demonetisation was the answer. “We had Raghuram Rajan as Governor for three years. He did not think demonetisation was the answer and he categorically told the government ‘no'.. do not do demonetisation. Then, a new Governor (Urjit Patel) comes and in 64 days, he agrees for demonetisation,” he alleged.

Chidambaram said no major country has demonetised its currency in the last 50 years. “History books will show that Zimbabwe, North Korea, Libya and... india demonetised its currency... it is a shame... may be this government thought these were the most prosperous countries in the world,” he said.

“First they (Centre) talked about demonetisation and now they are saying remonetisation. Of the 15.44 lakh crore worth money demonetised, every rupee has come back to RBI. Now you are remonetising. Why are you doing this? Why should you demonetise and then remonetise... this is not ‘notebandi' but ‘notebadli',” Chidambaram said. He said he would have resigned as Finance Minister during his tenure, if the then Prime Minister had insisted on demonetisation.

“Why did you do it and what was the purpose of this exer- cise? Anyway, people are aware that this is the biggest scam of 2016,” Chidambaram charged. “They (Centre) demonetised 2,400 crore notes. The capacity of all four printing facilities... if they work round-the-clock for every month is 300 crore. So, to print 2,400 crore notes it will take eight months. We are now coming to the end of three months (since demonetisation was announced)... half of the ATMS are not working... most ATMS do not have currency,” Chidambaram alleged.

Citing seizure of new notes across the country, the senior Congress leader asked, “How did the new Rs 2,000 bundles reach wrong hands... how did they get the new currency notes... it is the biggest scam of 2016. Ordinary people could not get their own money. They (government) said this (demonetisation) is to put an end to corruption. I look at the new notes .... is it written anywhere on these that they are not valid for giving bribe,” Chidambaram quipped, adding, “The person taking bribe in old notes will now do so in new currency.”

The Congress leader said due to demonetisation, thousands of people were put to misery. “Everyday, 11 crore people are standing in queues for hours to take out their own money. Thousands of farmers have been affected... every commodity price crashed. There are 45 crore people in this country who depend on daily income,” he said.

“Manual labourers and others... for four to six weeks had no work... the government does not utter a word of giving compensation to such people and they (Centre) have started talking about cashless...” said Chidambaram.

Further explaining his stand against demonetisation, the former union minister said, “80 per cent transactions in Germany and Austria are cash-based, in Australia it is 60 per cent, Canada 56 per cent and US 46 per cent, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi says India will go 100 per cent cashless.” All these are attempts to confuse and deceive people, he alleged.

‘The Modi Government must have consulted some RSS pracharak before taking the demonetisation decision. The government's move from demonetisation to remonetisation was not notebandi but notebadli,' points out former Finance Minister P Chidambaram