Demonetization

 The Economic Survey has also clarified that income tax collections have touched new
high with demonetization and introduction of GST, “From about 2 percent of GDP
between 2013-14 and 2015-16, they are likely to rise to 2.3 percent of GDP in 2017-18, a
historic high.
 On November 8, 2016, the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi announced
the Demonetization of all Rs.500 and Rs. 1,000 denominationbanknotes of the Mahatma
Gandhi Series.
 The objective of demonetization as claimed by Government of India was to curtail the
black money running as shadow economy and to stop the use of counterfeit cash to fund
illegal activity and terrorism.
 The demonetization move was heavily criticized as poorly planned and unfair, and was
met with protests, litigation, and strikes.

Merits and Demerits

 Demonetization has driven the country towards a cashless society. Lakhs of the people
even in remote rural areas have started resorting to use the cashless transactions
 Money laundering will eventually come to halt as the activity can easily be tracked and
the money can be seized by the authorities
 Demonetization was done to help India to become corruption-free as it will be difficult
now to keep the unaccounted cash
 Real Estate sector came to a stand still and is still gasping for buyers of the constructed
and half constructed inventory without buyers. This has resulted in poor cash flow leading
to a poor demand
 India is an agriculture based economy. Due to the cash crunch, the farmers especially
small and marginal who largely depend on cash to buy seeds, fertilizers and to pay for
sowing, borrowing water for irrigation and for other related agriculture equipments
remained worst affected and could not complete the crop related activity.

Impact
 Stock Market gets bullish
After demonetization stock market in India got bullish. While BSE index which was 27,
459 on November 7, 2016 rose to 33680.92 on November 6, 2017, the NSE rose from
8497 to 10,443. The data shared by Bloomberg reflect the trend.
 Automobile sales picked up
Sale of 2 wheelers and 4 wheelers was showing a negative growth in 2016. In 2017 it
went up substantially and recovered from the impact of negative growth to high positive
growth as reflected in the report.
 More people use Mobile wallets than cash
Instead of using cash, more people have started using Mobile wallets for making
payments for their regular needs. Even less educated people have learned and switched
over to mobile transactions. The volume of transactions which was Rs.22.14 bn in
January 2016, had gone up to Rs. 83.53bn in January 2017.
 Economic Growth slows down
Post demonetization growth of Indian Economy slowed down from 9.1% to 5.7% in less
than one year.
 Realty sector bears the brunt
The triple decisions of demonetisation, RERA and GST resulted in a deceleration of new
property launches. The supply of new housing units in the top-6 cities in India during the
 first three quarters of 2017 was down by around 60 per cent, compared with the
corresponding period of 2016.

#Me too campaign

 Me Too' or #MeToo is a movement which was initiated in 2006 by a social activist

Tarana Burke against the dire concern of the masses on the matter of sexual abuse and
harassment in America
 The idea of “Empowerment through Empathy” was behind the Me Too Movement. It was
ultimately created to ensure survivors know they're not alone in their journey.
 This movement empowered the women to form a community and help each other in
talking about the bitter truths of sexual abuse in the world and has helped the victims
better fit in the society
 It raised awareness among women about their rights as an individual in the work place or
outside and helped men understand the consequences of the same.
 This has helped bringing out the buried truth about Harvey Weinstein and many other
men like him and brought them to justice in the eyes of the world.
 It helps individual’s suffering regardless of the sex, race or religion

Criticism

 It could cause possible trauma to the victims as it publicizes the assault and harassment of the
victims which in turn can re-trigger their trauma and anxiety.
 This movement does not take into account the sexual assault and harassment faced by the Sex
Workers who face this devil on a regular basis.
 The movement does not check the facts which can lead to false rape accusations.

Impact of Technology on Jobs: Will Automation & Artificial Intelligence reduce or increase Jobs?

 Artificial intelligence (AI) or Machine Intelligence (MI) is an area of computer science

that emphasizes the creation of intelligent machines that work and reacts like humans.
 Artificial intelligence includes programming computers/Robots for certain traits such as:
Knowledge, Reasoning, Problem solving, Perception, Learning, Planning, Ability to
manipulate and move objects etc.

 It is widely suggested that that workers will have greater employment opportunities if
their occupation undergoes some degree of computer automation. As long as they can
learn to use the new tools, automation will be their friend. For example; when ATMs
automated the tasks of bank tellers and when barcode scanners automated the work of
cashiers: Rather than contributing to unemployment, the number of workers in these
occupations grew.
 With advent of new technologies industry experts see the need for skilled workers
increasing in the short run and persisting for at least another decade.The experts call for
training programs with a new curriculum and certifications to standardize emerging job
classifications.
 Automation isn’t just for blue-collar workers anymore. Computers are now taking over
tasks performed by professional workers, raising fears of massive unemployment
 Industries across the globe are adopting new technologies for higher efficiency and
performance, lower manufacturing. Machines can reduce risk and increase effectiveness.
This could lead to elimination of a vast number of semi or unskilled jobs, who make a
substantial portion of the workforce in manufacturing and agriculture sector.
 increasingly adopted not only in manufacturing, clerical, and retail work but in
professions such as law, financial services, education, and medicine.
