CounterCurrents: Demonetisation: Are you fed up?, Life Is Lived On The Edge Along Gaza’s Boundary

Dear Friend,

Are you bored with the continuous bombardment of #demonetisation stories from India? Do you think it's is too much? But the situation is grave and getting graver by the day. It's the unfolding story of the suffering of 1/5th of humanity, 70 % of whom are living on less than $ 2 a day. What would happen if their cash becomes valueless overnight? It's a life and death situation for India and many people are really dying. 

Most affected are the farmers who depend 99.99% on cash. Suddenly they are cashless. This is the planting season. They need money to buy seeds, manure, pay wages. This is crucial for the food security of the country. The monsoon rains failed India. Many parts of the country are in a drought like situation. Now this drought of cash! There are stories of farmers walking miles and miles for several days to get cash. But they don't get it. Samar of Asian Human Rights Commission writes, "Demonetisation, Proverbial Last Nail In The Coffin Of Already Beleaguered Peasantry". Literally! that too in  a country where three hundred thousand farmers committed suicide in the last two and half decades. If they are not allowed to plant this season, there could be a famine soon. 

Indira Jaising a Senior Supreme Court advocate and former Additional Solicitor General of India puts forward three pertinent points that clearly shows that the recent demonitisation is illegal.  1. The Reserve Bank of India Act allows the government to withdraw a ‘series’ of a particular currency, not the entire 
denomination. 

2. By failing to introduce an ordinance or passing a law in Parliament, the government had failed to justify the removal of “movable property”, which
in this case are the Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes belonging to the citizens.
3. There is no law or rule under the RBI Act which disallows a citizen from accessing his/her taxed money.  This is in reference to Rs 2,000 
withdrawal limit. Supreme Court of India is hearing the case. Let's hope that something positive will come out of it. 

Even though I sit here in India, I can feel the pulse of what's happening in USA. America also is getting polarised, just like India. George Lakey, author of 'Viking Economics' writes that this polarisation can give birth to a new movement for  a new America. Time for a grass root movement! 

Prof Shah Alam Khan tells a heart wrenching real life  story from the streets of Delhi. 

Will the  young writers and students out there come forward to tell such stories around you?

Also more stories from around the world. 

If you don't mind, and if you think the content of this news letter is critical for the dignified living and survival of humanity and other species on earth, please forward it to your friends and spread the word. It's time for humanity to come together as one family! You can subscribe to our news letter here http://www.countercurrents.org/news-letter/. 

In Solidarity

Binu Mathew
Editor
www.countercurrents.org





Demonetisation, Proverbial Last Nail In The Coffin Of Already Beleaguered Peasantry
by Samar 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/11/19/demonetisation-proverbial-last-nail-in-the-coffin-of-already-beleaguered-peasantry/

The finance ministry should immediately reconsider its decision and allow the use of old notes for buying seeds unless it is okay with farm crisis claiming many more lives. It is just that the blame of inviting such a disaster will lie squarely with it in that case.





Demonetisation—Strictly, The PM Didn’t Go By The Law
by Indira Jaising

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/11/19/demonetisation-strictly-the-pm-didnt-go-by-the-law/

Indira Jaising a Senior Supreme Court advocate and former Additional Solicitor General of India puts forward three pertinent points that clearly shows that the recent demonitisation is illegal.  1. The Reserve Bank of India Act allows the government to withdraw 
a ‘series’ of a particular currency, not the entire 
denomination. 

2. By failing to introduce an ordinance or passing 
a law in Parliament, the government had failed to
justify the removal of “movable property”, which
in this case are the Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes
belonging to the citizens.
3. There is no law or rule under
the RBI Act which disallows a citizen
from accessing his/her taxed money. 
This is in reference to Rs 2,000 
withdrawal limit.





Demonetisation: India Speaks -Part III
Video byAabha Joshi, NeethuSaji and Kritika

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/11/19/demonetisation-india-speaks-part-iii/

This Episode accounts the struggle of the working class women of Bombay, who are forced to stand in long queues, sacrificing their daily wages. It also narrates how the working class remain the most exploited, who are compelled to accept old currency notes from their employers. These women condemn the anti-people policy of the government.





Demonetization And Narrative On Black Money
by T Navin 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/11/19/demonetization-and-narrative-on-black-money/

A 50 day time is sought to emerge out of the temporary inconvenience. It is being pointed out that banking operations need at-least 4-6 months to be restored back to normalcy. However the social and human costs of this period following demonetization could be disastrous. This is irrespective of the extreme faith being expressed on the new panacea for ending Black money namely Demonetization. While the weaknesses of this narrative have already started showing its weaknesses, it needs to be seen whether it could deliver what it promised out to do.






Demonetisation And Bhakts
by Asantosh Kumar 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/11/19/demonetisation-and-bhakts/

I’m writing this to illustrate to what level have the Bhakts* stooped to prove how their Master is the true Vanquisher of Black Money.





The Hopeful Thing About Our Ugly, Painful Polarization
by George Lakey 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/11/19/the-hopeful-thing-about-our-ugly-painful-polarization/

Currently we see grassroots nonviolent campaigns at the Standing Rock Sioux camps. This cluster of campaigns—aimed at corporations building the pipeline along with the federal government giving them the land to do it, aimed at the banks that invest in fossil fuel infrastructure, aimed at politicians who favor oil infrastructure over indigenous rights– for example, has become a full-blown movement. The question is whether the many Americans who are deeply concerned for change will step up their strategic skills so more nonviolent campaigns will cluster into more movements and, as a whole, create an Era of Change.





Bottling The Demon Of Free Trade: Trumpism And Protectionism
by Dr Binoy Kampmark 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/11/19/bottling-the-demon-of-free-trade-trumpism-and-protectionism/

Amidst such Trump promises as the building of a defiant wall to keep unruly Mexicans out of the land of the free, or withdrawing funding from sanctuary cities who shelter undocumented immigrants, lies a promise to those not associated with the neo-liberal traditionalists.  The Trans-Pacific Partnership, he promised, would be scrapped.





Life Is Lived On The Edge Along Gaza’s Boundary
by Hamza Abu Eltarabesh 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/11/19/life-is-lived-on-the-edge-along-gazas-boundary/

In the crosshairs have been farmers, shepherds, bird hunters, iron and scrap collectors, as well as demonstrators who took part in a protest there on the commemoration of the Nakba, the 1948 ethnic cleansing of Palestine, in May. In all, seven Palestinians, including three children and a woman, have been killed in the no-go zones in 2016.





Tubeless Tyres And Soulless Bodies
by Prof Shah Alam Khan 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/11/19/tubeless-tyres-and-soulless-bodies/

(Sir, if we can kill the soul of a child they don’t feel bad while working. His soul is in the process of being killed; soon his training will be complete) he answered, and gave out a throaty laughter. I was left speechless as Ashish re-inflated the tyre once again, got up from his haunches and said, “ho gaya” (it’s done).