An address to the nation on the evening of 8th November 2016 shook everyone. According to the television address, 86% of the total currency in circulation had just become invalid. In a cash preferred economy like India, that was a news which had potential to make or break the economy.
Though the ruling government claimed that the step was announced to strengthen the economy and make it more transparent, the general public had to undergo a lot of inconveniences, especially in the initial days.
It’s been a year since the announcement of demonetisation. A lot has already been talked about the government and administration. The opposition has been vocal in their campaign and has announced to celebrate the demonetization anniversary as a black day across the country.
However, the general public still seems to support the central government and the prime minister Narendra Modi. According to an ET survey, the perception of the general public has changed towards him and a lot of people are now supporting the noteban. While asked if people support demonetisation, 38% were in open support of it, 30% said that demonetisation had mixed results, whereas, 32% termed it as a failure. The survey was conducted among 10,000 online readers of EconomicTimes.com
On the question of how demonetisation impacted the economy, 26% claimed that the move did leave a big impact on the economy. 32% were fully supporting and said that the move made the economy more transparent, whereas, 42% readers said that demonetization was a success, however, it did result in some collateral damages.
Another question which asked how did demonetization impact jobs. 32% claimed that there was no impact on jobs whereas 45% claimed that it had impacted jobs in short-term whereas, 23% claimed that demonetization left a long-term negative impact on jobs.
The survey also asked if the government bans INR 2000 note right now, how will the move impact the economy? 56% said that it will impact black money holders. 31% said that it will impact economic growth, whereas, 12% said that the move will impact honest businesses.
One of the most important questions asked in the survey asked about how the move impacted the image of the government. To which, 55% readers said that it has enhanced the government’s image in front of the people. 19% claimed that there was no substantial impact on the government image, whereas 26% said that demonetization impacted government’s image negatively.
The opposition has planned to celebrate black day protesting against demonetisation on 8th November across the country.