Arun Shourie calls demonetisation greatest blunder in 70 years

Slamming the government's decision on demonetisation, Arun Shourie said that it was the 'greatest economic blunder in 70 years'.

Speaking at the National Institute of Advanced Studies in Bengaluru on Tueday, the former minister in Vajpayee's government said, "Demonetisation is the symptom of a pattern of government where there is no consultation. It may happen again and again. The fact that somebody keeps winning elections is no reason to change our mind. Those who vote will vote on other considerations, and they do not know how economy should be run."

Targeting PM Modi, he said, "Somebody gets a brainwave, and because nobody can oppose them, there is demonetisation".

"You can see this from the fact that every day they are inventing something new - wherever the arrow falls that is the target. It is governance by illumination and revelation", he further added.

Meanwhile, RBI Governor Urjit Patel will brief a parliamentary panel today on issues concerning demonetisation and its implications on the economy.

The Standing Committee on Finance, under the chairmanship of Congress leader M Veerappa Moily, was briefed about demonetisation by various experts.

Independent experts who offered their view before the panel were noted economists Rajiv Kumar and Mahesh Vyas, former chief statistician Pronab Sen and NIPFPs Kavita Rao. The experts, according to the sources, were divided on the governments decision of cash recall.

 

The panel also sought to know from the experts their opinion on the existing cash to GDP and tax to GDP ratios.