-Scroll.in India’s first chief statistician, Pronab Sen, is now country director of the International Growth Centre, which seeks to build effective growth facilities through engagement between policymakers and researchers. In this interview to Scroll.in, he speaks on the 50 days of demonetisation, its failings, its severe impact on the poor, the loss of credibility of the Reserve Bank of India, the push to make India a cashless or less-cash economy, and...

-The Indian Express For the poor, with little cash in the first place, digital promises to ‘swipe’ them out, before their marginalisation is even addressed. Demonetisation is, by its very nature, an autocratic, coercive step. The demonetisation of November 2016 has affected every single Indian. We are, as usual, persuaded to bear the pain and suffering, to “sacrifice” for the nation. The rhetoric continues but it now seems clear that the objective...

A press statement issued from the Right to Food Campaign on 27 December, 2016 says that the demonetisation of old currency notes of Rs. 500/- and Rs. 1000/- denomination wreaked havoc on the livelihood security of the poor people. The labouring and toiling masses, who are mostly engaged in the informal sector, have been adversely affected due to the scrapping of old currency notes of Rs. 500/- and Rs. 1000/-...

-Hindustan Times The government’s decision to scrap high-value currency has sent wholesale vegetable prices crashing to rock-bottom levels, bringing misery to millions of farmers hoping for good returns for their produce after two successive drought years. Onions sold for just Re 1 per kilogram in wholesale markets at Madhya Pradesh’s Neemuch and Mandsaur this week while tomatoes cost less than Rs 2 per kg in Andhra Pradesh and Chandigarh. A kilogram of cauliflower...

-The Indian Express Say digital wallets have helped but can’t replace cash. - Shakuntala Vani (51) from Kandivli may not possibly have any black money. She sells vegetables for a living. Having managed somehow since the government demonetised currency notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 denominations on November 8, says Shakuntala, her family is now on the brink of starvation. – Chote Lal (55) from Thakur village never used digital wallets in...