THE TIMES OF INDIA, AURANGABAD SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 2019 9TIMES NATION

New Delhi: Congress pre-sident Sonia Gandhi onFriday held the Modi go-vernment responsible fortaking away livelihoodsthrough demonetisationand said her party will en-sure that the nation neverforgets or forgives the“Tughlaqi blunder”.

She said the prime mi-nister and his colleagueshave never taken respon-sibility for the “faux pas”

that claimed over 120 livesand proved a death knellfor India’s medium andsmall businesses. “Nomatter how much the Mo-di government may tryand evade responsibilityfor this ludicrous andshort-sighted measure,the nation and its peoplewill ensure that they areheld accountable,” Gand-hi said in a statement.

She said three yearson, demonetisation is per-haps the single most app-ropriate metaphor for theBJP’s “ill-conceived go-vernance model”. PTI

PM took awaylivelihoods

through noteban: Sonia

Mumbai: Come January 2020,and customers may not have topay any charges for transac-tions done through the popu-lar NEFT system.

A proposal in this regardhas been mooted by the RBI togive impetus to digital transac-tions on the third anniversaryof demonetisation. The cen-tral bank has also proposedthat FASTags would be enab-led to pay for parking fee andeven at fuel stations.

Digital payments constitu-ted a high 96% of total non-cash retail payments duringthe October 2018 to September2019. During the same period,the National Electronic FundsTransfer (NEFT) and UnifiedPayments Interface (UPI) sy-stems handled 252 crore and874 crore transactions with ye-ar on year growth of 20% and263%, respectively.

“This rapid growth in thepayment systems, inter-alia,has been facilitated by a seriesof measures taken by the Re-serve Bank of India,” the cen-

tral bank said in a statementon furthering digital pay-ments.

Now to further empowerevery citizen with an “Excep-tional (e) Payment Experien-ce”, and provide her access to abouquet of options, the RBI sa-id it proposes to “mandatebanks not to charge savingsbank account customers foronline transactions in theNEFT system with effect fromJanuary 2020”.

It also plans to operationa-lise the ‘Acceptance Develop-ment Fund’ to increase accep-tance infrastructure with fromJanuary 1, 2020. A committeewould also be set up to assessthe need for plurality of QR co-

des and merits of their co-exis-tence or convergence fromboth systemic and consumerviewpoints.

Further, the central bankhas plans to permit all authori-sed payment systems and in-struments (non-bank PPIs,cards and UPI) for linking withNational Electronic Toll Col-lection (NETC) FASTags. “Go-ing forward, this will facilitatethe use of FASTags for par-king, fuel, etc., payments in aninteroperable environment,”the statement said.

The RBI announcement co-mes on the third anniversaryof government’s historic deci-sion to demonetise Rs 500/1,000. On November 8, 2016 thethen Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 in cir-culation were banned, and theRBI came out with new 2,000and 500 currency notes. TheReserve Bank of India furthersaid the benchmarking exerci-se undertaken by it reveals ahigh position enjoyed by thecountry in various parametersin the payment systems. PTI

No charges on NEFT paymentfrom January: RBI to banks

New Delhi: On the third an-niversary of demonetisation,former economic affairs se-cretary S C Garg said the Rs2,000 note, which the Modi go-vernment brought replacingolder 500 and 1,000 notes, werebeing hoarded and should bedemonetised.

Three years ago, on thisday, Prime Minister Narend-ra Modi made the shock anno-uncement of banning the useof old 500 and 1,000 rupee no-tes with a view to curb blackmoney, promote digital pay-ments and make the countrya less-cash economy.

“Cash is still quite high inthe system. There is alsostocking of Rs 2,000 notes inevidence. The expansion ofdigital payments is takingplace all over the world. It ishappening in India as well.The pace is much slower,”Garg, who took VRS from go-vernment service after hewas abruptly shifted out ofthe finance ministry, said in anote.

Garg, who headed the de-partment that (among otherthings) overseas currencycirculation till, said the Rs2,000-notes account for about

one-third of currency notesin circulation in value terms.“A good chunk of Rs 2,000 no-tes are actually not in circula-tion, having been hoarded. Rs2,000 note, therefore, is notpresently working as a cur-rency of transaction,” he saidadvocating that they may bedemonetised or withdrawnfrom circulation.

“It can be demonetised,without causing any disrup-tion. A simple method, depo-siting these notes in the bankaccounts (no counter replace-ment), can be used to managethe process,” he said. PTI

Former FinMin official says`̀2,000 notes being hoarded

New Delhi: The CBI on Fri-day conducted searches at 15locations in Karnataka andUttar Pradesh, including thepremises of some senior offi-cers of Karnataka police, inconnection with the I-Mone-tary Advisory (IMA) ponziscam, officials said.

Multi disciplinary teamsof the agency carried out se-arches at 11places in Bengalu-ru and one each in Mandya,Ramanagara, Belgaum andone place in Meerut, UttarPradesh, they said. The teamcomprised of chartered acco-untants, forensic auditors,computer forensic experts,bankers and officials from va-rious other regulatory de-partments, the officials said.

The searches were con-ducted at residences of theninspector general EconomicOffences Wing crime investi-gation department HemantNimbalkar, deputy superin-tendents of police CID EBSridhara, then deputy com-missioner of police east Beng-aluru Ajay Hilory, inspectorand station house officerCommercial Street police sta-tion M Ramesh.

Then sub-inspector of theCommercial Street police sta-tion Gowri Shankar, thenACP Bengaluru north sub di-vision and competent autho-rity under KPID Act LC Naga-raj, then DCO Bengaluru ur-ban district BM Vijayshan-kar. Residence of then villageaccountant Bengaluru northsub division Manjunatha,then chief manager Bangalo-re development authority PDKumar were also searched. PTI

IMA ponzi scam:CBI conductssearches at15 locations

New Delhi: The SupremeCourt on Friday allowed theBihar government to take de-cision on dismissal of threelower court judges who wereallegedly caught in compro-mising position with womenin a guest house in Nepal in2013 and vacated its stay onproceedings against them.

The scandal involving thethree judges—principaljudge of a family court, achief judicial magistrate andan ad hoc additional districtand sessions judge —came to

light after a local daily in Ne-pal reported that Nepal Po-lice had apprehended the ju-dicial officers after findingthem in a compromising posi-tion with women.

Taking cognisance of thereport, the Patna High Courtdirected probe by a districtand sessions judge who, in hisreport, said the three judgeshad denied leaving India forNepal. The report also saidthe Nepali newspaper also ac-cepted that its news story waswrong and published a regretnote a month after the allegedincident. Although the re-port did not find any incrimi-

nating evidence against thejudges, the HC, however, wasnot satisfied and sought as-sistance of the home minis-try to find out the truth by col-lecting all information.

The home ministry there-after traced the movement ofthe judges on the basis of mo-bile phones and found theirsets were simultaneouslyswitched off for a long timeon January 26-27, 2013 andwhen the phones were activeduring that period, they werewithin the range of the towerat Forbesganj town, indicat-ing that the judicial officerswere together close to Nepal,

and not at the place of theirposting.

The report filed by thehome ministry also pointedout that one of judges had fal-sely claimed that he was stay-ing at a hotel in Purnea in Bi-har on that night as the billplaced by the judge to sub-stantiate his claim was fabri-cated as it was prepared andsigned by the judge himself.Acting on the findings, a fullcourt resolution was passedby HC to recommend the gov-ernment for dismissal of thejudicial officers withoutholding disciplinary pro-ceedings.

They Were Caught In Compromising Position With Women In Nepal

SC allows Bihar govt to takeaction against 3 Bihar judges AmitAnand.Choudhary

@timesgroup.com

Kolkata: West Bengalchief minister MamataBanerjee on Fridaydescribed demonetisationas a “futile exercise” andsaid the BJP-led Centralgovernment’s move to banhigh-value currency noteson this day in 2016 ruinedthe country’s economy. PTI

‘Demonetisationderailed economy’

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