EXCLUSIVE: Shashi Tharoor talks about his fears related to demonetization and the Paris Agreement
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Talking to us from the
Q1. There is a lot of literature that has been produced on colonialism. What was the push for your latest book: An Era of Darkness?
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Q2. From a purely economic standpoint, I’d like to know your views on the demonetization move.
Shashi- It was clearly not fully thought through. The collateral damage for innocent people in the current situation and in the foreseeable future completely outweigh the intended benefits to the economy.
They talk of a surgical strike but a surgical strike is a result of a well thought out operation, where you go after the black marketers and the non-tax payers whereas here as we see, the largest number of victims are actually innocents; ordinary people who are queuing outside banks and ATMs unable to access their hard-earned money.
The Government has failed to account that the common man uses most of the 84% of the currency that has been banned.
They have also failed as there are not enough currency notes and the ATMs are not recalibrated. They couldn’t have even printed notes of the same size!
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I don’t understand why they couldn’t have extended the deadline to the end of the year, where you could’ve anyway tracked the amount someone is depositing in their bank account. The money underground has been driven further underground in irregular schemes and the regular money supply is choked.
Q3. After the US Elections, people fear that the
Shashi- Mr.
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