Tuesday evening Prime Minister Narendra Modi came up unannounced  and dropped a bomb on the black money. In a brilliant move that was daringly simple and breathtakingly audacious, the Prime Minister has announced that from midnight all Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes will turn into ash from cash.

Modi announced that, “To break the grip of corruption and black money, we have decided that the five hundred rupee and thousand rupee currency notes presently in use will no longer be legal tender from midnight tonight, that is 8th November 2016.”

Prime minister further said that, To minimise the difficulties of citizens in the coming days, several steps are being taken.

1.Persons holding old notes of five hundred or one thousand rupees can deposit these notes in their bank or post office accounts from 10th November till close of banking hours on 30th December 2016 without any limit.

2.Thus you will have 50 days to deposit your notes and there is no need for panic.

3.Your money will remain yours. You need have no worry on this point.

4.After depositing your money in your account, you can draw it when you need it.

5.Keeping in mind the supply of new notes, in the first few days, there will be a limit of ten thousand rupees per day and twenty thousand rupees per week. This limit will be increased in the coming days.

6.Apart from depositing your notes in your bank account, another facility will also be there.

7.For your immediate needs, you can go to any bank, head post office or sub post office, show your identity proof like Aadhaar card, voter card, ration card, passport, PAN card or other approved proofs, and exchange your old five hundred or thousand rupee notes for new notes.

8.From 10th November till 24th November the limit for such exchange will be four thousand rupees. From 25th November till 30th December, the limit will be increased.

9.There may be some who, for some reason, are not able to deposit their old five hundred or thousand rupee notes by 30th December 2016.

10.They can go to specified offices of the Reserve Bank of India up to 31st March 2017 and deposit the notes after submitting a declaration form.

11.On 9th November and in some places on 10th November also, ATMs will not work. In the first few days, there will be a limit of two thousand rupees per day per card.

12.This will be raised to four thousand rupees later.

13.Five hundred and thousand rupee notes will not be legal tender from midnight. However for humanitarian reasons, to reduce hardship to citizens, some special arrangements have been made for the first 72 hours, that is till midnight on 11th November.

14.During this period, government hospitals will continue to accept five hundred and thousand rupee notes for payment.

15.This is for the benefit of those families whose members may be unwell.

16.Pharmacies in government hospitals will also accept these notes for buying medicines with doctors' prescription.

17.For 72 hours, till midnight on 11th November, railway ticket booking counters, ticket counters of government buses and airline ticket counters at airports will accept the old notes for purchase of tickets. This is for the benefit of those who may be travelling at this time.

18.For 72 hours, five hundred and thousand rupee notes will be accepted also at

19.Petrol, diesel and CNG gas stations authorised by public sector oil companies

20.Consumer co-operative stores authorised by State or Central Government

21.Milk booths authorised by State governments

22.Crematoria and burial grounds.

23.These outlets will have to keep proper records of stock and collections.

24.Arrangements will be made at international airports for arriving and departing passengers who have five hundred or thousand rupee notes of not more than five thousand rupees, to exchange them for new notes or other legal tender.

25.Foreign tourists will be able to exchange foreign currency or old notes of not more than Rs 5000 into legal tender.

26.One more thing I would like to mention, I want to stress that in this entire exercise, there is no restriction of any kind on non-cash payments by cheques, demand drafts, debit or credit cards and electronic fund transfer.

While almost all the political parties and the industry has welcomed the move, Congress and Trinamul Congress has raised doubts on the brave and bold move to effect a surgical strike on the black money and terrorism.

“Is the banking system ready?… What will happen to the marriage celebrations and festivities. What will happen to sowing of crops? What will happen to shopkeepers and artisans who believe in recycling of money? These are some questions that he [the Prime Minister] needs to answer,” Congress communication department Randeep Surjewala said.

“While Modi withdraws Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes, he introduces Rs 2,000 notes…. Would it not encourage hoarders to save their money in Rs 2,000 rupee denominations?” he added.

West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee called it a draconian decision and demanded it be withdrawn immediately and said, “The PM could not get back the promised black money from abroad from the rich, so a drama to divert his failure… I want to know from PM how my poorest brothers sisters,who’ve recd their week’s hard earned wage in one 500 rs note will buy ata, chal, tomorrow?”

JD(U) general secretary K C Tyagi,said the step will check fake currency being smuggled in, “We welcome this move,which will also break the back of those hoarding black money and hawala traders. There was a moral pressure on the PM to unearth black money, a promise that he had made… He has fulfilled that promise with this step.”

BJD leader Bhartruhari Mahtab said, “I welcome the bold step by the Prime Minister… to weed out black money from circulation which is a parallel economy in our country. Next step is to keep a hawk’s eye on the money transaction that may change hands. All the best to Narendra Modi.”

“The black money recovery scheme has brought Rs 65,000 crore into the treasury. This announcement by the PM will help in uprooting corruption, black money, hawala and fake currency,” BJP president Amit Shah said. “We are all proud of this surgical strike by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and would like to congratulate him for this.”

By Premji