Hard times

With reference to the Chinese Whispers item, “Payday at Parliament House” (December 2), it must have been unprecedented in the history of free India for members of Parliament to queue up at the State Bank of India (SBI) branch on Parliament premises to withdraw their salaries. The credit for this unsavoury development goes to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his decision of demonetising ~500 and ~1,000 currency notes on November 8.

The Chinese Whispers item notes that the SBI branch had a good supply of ~100 and the new ~500 currency notes even as bank branches outside Parliament struggled with the supply of money. If so, the question arises: Were the MPs allowed to withdraw their entire salaries in cash in one go against the Reserve Bank of India’s prescribed limit of ~24,000 per person per week?

The actual amount that an ordinary citizen can currently withdraw has been restricted to around ~5,000 at any given time. This means that a person may have to visit the bank more than four times a week to withdraw the permissible amount of ~24,000. The overall weekly limit also includes withdrawals made through ATMs.

All citizens of the country irrespective of their status would likely be in the same position in this hour of difficulty. But if MPs were permitted to withdraw their full salaries in one go, an ordinary citizen is left wondering why he has to face the hardship caused by demonetisation?

Why are citizens being compelled to stand in these queues for hours together before bank branches and ATMs that anyway are not guaranteeing delivery of cash to them? When would their hardship end? S Kumar New Delhi