India: Demonetisation takes its toll on the poor

Endless lines outside banks have become the norm in India, as millions of people queue to deposit or exchange the 500 and 1,000 rupee notes that since last week have become officially worthless.


For India's poor, however, the country's new currency policy is more than just an inconvenience.

"We don't have anything to eat in our house," Manjula Begum, a waste picker who lives on the edge of a New Delhi slum, told Al Jazeera.

"The kids want rice for lunch, but I can't give it to them. What will I do? Who do I ask for money? No one is helping us."

The notes' sudden withdrawal from circulation, a measure aimed at fighting corruption, has caused chaos, with markets, petrol stations and other retailers refusing to accept the larger notes and bank cash machines staying closed.

The Indian government is asking people to be patient with what it calls the "short-term inconvenience" of the new currency policy, but the situation is taking its toll on people living off meagre daily wages.

Most of the India's poor do not have proper IDs to exchange the notes that they have, or even the time to stand in line in front of a bank for hours.
 [aljazeera.com]
 16/11/16
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