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Cashless economy not possible in a jiffy: RSS-affiliate Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh
As a first move towards moving to cashless society, the government should have opened more banks, hired more staff and opened bank accounts for all those who are without one, the BMS said.
A Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) affiliate, the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS) has punched holes in the government’s push for a cashless economy by pointing out that no preparations have been made to allow the transition.
The BMS, has pointed out that though the government’s intent is not questionable, the implementation is a cause of concern. For one, there are inequities in banking facilities, the BMS said, underlining how vast population is still outside the banking net.
It has also red flagged the issue of growing job losses, blaming the UPA government’s economic policies for creating conditions for job cuts and the current NDA government for failing to stem the problem.
“The government is going in a good direction, but there is lack of preparation,” Baij Nath Rai, president of BMS told HT on the move toward cashless economy.
He said as a first move towards moving to cashless society, the government should have opened more banks, hired more staff and opened bank accounts for all those who are without one, such as contractual staff, labourers and daily wagers.
Though the BMS has supported the demonetization of higher value currency announced on November 8, it admits that the move has impacted the workers adversely. “We cannot say that all the job losses have happened because of demonetization, but problems have gone up. Contractual staff and daily wagers who have no access to bank accounts have no money; and the government must ensure they are paid some cash in advance ,” Rai said.
He blamed reports of job cuts on “the poor economic policies of the UPA government” and said: “As against 20 lakh job cuts in the last few years, this government in its 2.5 years tenure has been able to create only 1.35 lakh jobs, which is a very small number.”
The BMS is also unhappy with the government’s silence on the issue of providing social security to unorganised sector workers, such as those who work in the anganwadi sector, as Ashas in the health sector and contractual labour.
