Reportedly PM narendra modi said in a country's history, there come moments when every person feels he too should be part of that moment, that he too should make his contribution to the country's progress. Such moments come but rarely on november 8, 2016. Furthermore he said this soon after making the historic announcement to demonetise high-value banknotes of Rs 1,000 and Rs 500. In his televised address to the nation, PM modi said this was being done to fight fake currency rackets, black money and corruption.
PM modi had said to canvas people's support "We have an opportunity where every citizen can join this mahayajna (grand sacrifice) against the ills of corruption, black money and fake notes". Meanwhile Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 banknotes were banned overnight, the government introduced new banknotes with denominations of Rs 2,000 and Rs 500. It said these banknotes have additional security features which would make them difficult to be copied by counterfeiters, hence check the menace of fake currency. But three years on, government's own data show that overcoming these security barriers was not that difficult for rackets operating in counterfeit currency. In fact, they seem to have had a field's day printing them.
Perhaps latest reports of the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) reveal that in terms of value, Rs 2,000 banknotes comprised 56 per cent of all fake currency seized in india after demonetisation (i.e. in 2017 and 2018).
