Demonetization: Small towns adapting better than metros

If one goes by the lines formed outside banks in these areas, the immediate impact of the demonetization exercise seems to be less pronounced in rural towns as compared to the metros, The Uttar Pradesh side of Bundelkhand is a case in point. People, who had come to the Sarva UP Gramin Bank, in Ullan village near Mauranipur in Jhansi, which was closed, said that they did need cash. However, they seemed not to be as worried about the lack of it, as those in bigger cities would be.

“We consider the demonetization exercise to be just a temporary inconvenience,” said Dharamveer Singh, a resident of the village. Singh pointed out that the government’s decision would not affect him immediately. Mulayam Singh, a marginal farmer in neighbouring Imilia village, believed that unlike their urban counterparts, people living in rural areas had learnt to manage with little.

“Bundelkhand is a drought affected region. When we have no water to cultivate our fields or money to buy seeds, fertilizers and fodder, we have learned to manage with little. It must be people in cities and those who have a lot of Rs500 and Rs1000 currency notes who are crying now,” he said. Singh did not seem to be too bothered that the bank was closed. He, along with some others, started proceeding to Mauranipur, the neighbouring town, to exchange the old notes for new.

The other interesting thing to note here was the fact that unlike bigger towns, these areas in UP were not too bothered about the fact that there were no bigger note denominations. Indeed, some of the banks in smaller towns like Mauranipur, Orai and Mahoba were yet to receive the Rs2,000 note and instead offered currency denominations in Rs100 and Rs10, to the locals here. What was a sore point for these locals though, was that many private banks were offering preferential service to their own account holders. This upset many who had queued up to exchange the old notes.

There were some problems though. Ram Kumar Vishwakarma, a fruit seller in Orai town in Jalaun district in Bundelkhand grumbled that people were not buying fruits in bulk. “Since the morning, people are buying bananas in ones and twos by giving me Rs5 or Rs10. I have not had a single customer who has bought a dozen today,” Vishwakarma said.

There were people too to whom the new “cashless” economy and the new cash note denominations seemed to make no difference. Babu Ram, a Dalit daily wage labourer in Mangrol village in Jalaun district, said that he and his family survived on rations. “We survive on the monthly rations that I get from my Antyodya ration card. So the government’s new policy does not affect us much, Ram said.