New Delhi, December 29: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will most likely address the nation within the remaining two days of 2016 in a bid to mark the awaiting year. The address will come as an immediate follow-up to his shocking message on the 8th of last month declaring the demonetisation of the Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes.
The speech is also set to mark the end of the 50-day time slot awarded for the exchange of the no-longer legal notes. There has been mounting confusion after the announcement of the policy due to the numerous rules introduced by the Reserve Bank of India along with the Finance Ministry.
While the Prime Minister had initially announced that old notes worth Rs 4,000 can be exchanged at banks, the limit was raised to Rs 4,500. Further, the ATM withdrawal limit was initially set at Rs 2,000 and was later increased to Rs 2,500.
Indians being innovative as they are, found ways to forego the limits set by the government. This resulted in the introduction of indelible ink to mark people who had withdrawn money. Meanwhile, relief was provided to farmers who were allowed to withdraw Rs 25,000 per week and farm traders could withdraw Rs 50,000. People who had weddings in their families could also encash Rs 2,50,000 from their bank accounts.
In his speeches after the introduction of demonetisation, the Prime Minister had thanked the citizens on numerous times for bearing with the hardships that came along with the fight against black money and corruption. His, year ender speech is expected to include in it an announcement as big as that of demonetisation.
While some analysts speculate the announcement of deposits of fixed sums by the government into Jan Dhan accounts, there is a real possibility that as per the request of bankers, the Prime Minister might actually extend the limit for the exchange of demonetised notes. Whatever the announcement might be, it is expected to make a huge splash right at the beginning of 2017.
