Demonetisation: Seven crucial questions, answered and unanswered

NEW DELHI: The Reserve Bank of India and the government were flooded with Right to Information (RTI) questions on the opaque and sudden move to demonetise Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes on November 8 last year. Two months later, we have more questions than answers.

Below are seven key questions on demonetisation, most of which have gone unanswered so far:

Question 1: Who decided to ban currency notes? RBI or the government?
In a note to the Parliament's Committee of Finance headed by Congress leader M. Veerappa Moily, the RBI said the government had on November 7, 2016 advised the RBI to mitigate the triple problems of counterfeiting, terrorist financing and black money, the Central Board of the Reserve Bank might consider withdrawal of the legal tender status of the notes in high denominations of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000.

Question 2: Were the views of Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramaniam and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley were taken before demonetisation announcement?
The RBI said in reponse to an RTI query that the query was not defined as information in the RTI Act.

Question 3: How much was the inventory of new 2,000 and 500 rupee notes with the RBI on the day demonetisation was announced?
The RBI said in response to an RTI query that it had Rs 4.94 lakh crore worth of 2,000 rupee notes and no 500 rupee notes on the day demonetisation was announced.

Question 4: What did the the Cabinet note that was approved by the Union Cabinet on demonetisation contain?
No reply from the government to this RTI question.

Question 5: When was the proposal to issue new notes of Rs 2,000 denomination approved?
The RBI said in reply to an RTI query that the Central Board discussed and approved the proposal to introduce Rs 2,000 notes on May 19 last year.

Question 6: Did the then Governor Raghuram Rajan write to the government against withdrawing Rs 500 notes in 2016 before his term ended in September 2016?
The RBI refused to reply to this RTI question.

Queston 7: How many meetings were held to plan the demonetisation drive, what happened during them and who all attended them?
The Ministry of Finance didn't reply to this RTI question.