Cash tales: From Kashmir to Bastar, demonetisation has hit India’s hinterland

It is not only urban India which is reeling from the aftermath of the currency ban. In India’s hinterland, demonetisation’s effects are becoming visible.

After Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s November 8 decision to ban Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes, India has been grappling with the after-effects.

Johny K K, a retired teacher in Guruvayoor, in Kerala’s Thrissur , at a bank to withdraw money. Small town and rural India have been battling the effects of the currency ban. (Vivek Nair/Hindustan Times)

Most of the narrative has centered on urban India, where long queues outside banks and dry ATMs are a common sight. But India’s hinterland has started feeling the cash crunch, though the effects were slow to materialize.

From the hard-to-reach mangroves of Sunderbans to the Maoist hotbed of Bastar, Kerala’s cash-rich temples to Kashmir’s calm and the struggle of farmers in Maharashtra and Punjab, we bring you six stories of how demonetisation has unfolded across the country.

For more coverage of demonetisation and the currency ban on old Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes, visit http://read.ht/BPGo.