8th November, 2016, Independence Day –“Independence from Black Money”

In the past decades, the spectre of corruption and black money has grown. It has weakened the effort to remove poverty. On the one hand, India is No. 1 in the rate of economic growth. But on the other hand, we were ranked close to one hundred in the global corruption perceptions ranking two years back. In spite of many steps taken, we have only been able to reach a ranking of seventy ­six now. Of course, there is improvement. This shows the extent to which corruption and black money have spread their tentacles.

The evil of corruption has been spread by certain sections of society for their selfish interest.  Some people have misused their office for personal gain. On the other hand, honest people have fought against this evil. Crores of common men and women have lived lives of integrity. There comes a time in the history of a country's development when a need is felt for a strong and decisive step. For years, this country has felt that corruption, black money and terrorism are festering sores, holding us back in the race towards development.

Terrorism is a frightening threat. So many have lost their lives because of it. But have you ever thought about how these terrorists get their money? Enemies from across the border run their operations using fake currency notes. This has been going on for years. Many times, those using fake five hundred and thousand rupee notes have been caught and many such notes have been seized.-PM

How it will be Beneficial:

ü  It will help the government to fight Black money, corruption, terrorism and counterfeit currency with one single decision.

ü  Arms smuggling, espionage and terrorist related activities will be choked due to lack of funding.

ü  Counterfeit currencies are being used for financing terrorism which is being run by the enemy in India. Now Govt has taken a bold move which enables them to fight counterfeit currency/terrorist funding activities.

ü  With the new limits on ATM withdrawals being restricted to Rs 2,000 per day, withdrawals from bank accounts limited to Rs 10,000 a day and Rs 20,000 a week, it will drive the card payments across the country.

ü  It will be easy for the Government to track the money being exchanged as exchange can only be done by producing valid government identity cards like PAN, Aadhaar and Election Card from 10 to 24 November with a daily limit of Rs 4000. There is no limit on the amount as long as it is legal.

ü  FIU of India gets info about transactions from banks. During this period, banks will take extra precaution. Banks will share info with Income Tax dept. as deemed fit.

ü  The traditional benami transactions have already received a big blow as the new legislation has a provision for seven-year imprisonment and fine, replacing the three-year jail term, or fine, or both.

ü  This decision will help institutionalize the real estate sector bringing more transparency in the Indian real estate industry. This step would give the Indian real estate sector more credibility making it more attractive to the foreign as well as domestic investors.

ü  Housing prices could witness downward pressure, helping revive demand in the sluggish housing segment.

ü  It will help the common man by putting an end to the artificial increase in Real Estate, Higher Education and Healthcare transactions bringing them within the reach of the common man.