·       I’Day speech of Tripura CM’s speech ‘censored’

 Tripura CM Manik Sarkar has condemned the censorship of his Independence Day speech by national broadcaster Prasar Bharati and termed it an “undemocratic, autocratic and intolerant step”.

The Congress has also slammed the censorship, while the BJP, which is eyeing to grab power in Tripura in the next assembly polls, has supported Prasar Bharati’s move.

An official statement from the CMO said AIR and Doordarshan Kendra, Agartala, recorded Sarkar’s speech on August 12 to broadcast and telecast it on August 15. “On August 14 evening Assistant Director of Programmes (Policy) Sanjiv Dosajh of AIR, New Delhi, and Prasar Bharati’s Head of Office (New Delhi) UK Sahoo in separate communications to the CMO said with the existing contents the speech could not be telecast and broadcast,” the statement said.

 MYSTERIOUS MATH

• First figure

Prime Minister Modi said his government had unearthed black money worth Rs 1.25 lakh crore before the demonetisation in November last year. “After forming our government, the first task was to constitute an SIT (special investigation team). Today, I want to tell the countrymen proudly that we have unearthed black money worth Rs 1.25 lakh crore…. Demonetisation followed this move,” Modi said.

• The SIT was formed by the Supreme Court. In March this year, SIT vice-chairman Justice Arijit Pasayat had said the SIT had unearthed black money worth Rs 70,000 crore. It is not known when it swelled to Rs 1.25 lakh crore.
• Second figure

Modi went on to suggest that demonetisation had led to a situation where black money had to be deposited with the banks. “Black money worth Rs 2 lakh crore had to be deposited in the banks and this system has forced them to be accountable.”

It is not clear who estimated the quantum of post-demonetisation black money deposits at Rs 2 lakh crore when the RBI has not yet counted the money and the tax-filing window for the financial year 2016-17 still remains open. The cash deposited can be characterised as black money only when these deposits are matched with tax filings.

• Other figures

“According to research conducted by outside experts, about Rs 3 lakh crore that had never come into the banking system before has been brought into the system after the demonetisation. More than Rs 1.75 lakh crore deposited in the banks is under the scanner,” Modi said.

In his speech delivered in Hindi, Modi referred to this money as ” atirikt” (surplus or excess) that was never a part of the banking system.

A study carried out in August by two RBI officials, Bhupal Singh and Indrajit Roy, directors in the monetary policy department and the department of statistics and information management, respectively, had determined the “excess deposits that accrued to the banking system due to demonetisation to be in the range of Rs 2.8 to 4.3 trillion”.

 The Congress Party has asked Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi the basis of his statement that currency worth Rs 3 lakh crore had come into the banking system after demonetisation.

Questioning PM’s remarks in the Independence Day speech, Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad said a question about demonetised currency was asked in the just concluded Monsoon Session of Parliament, but the answer given was – the RBI is still counting the currency. “If the RBI is still counting, how has the PM given these figures and another data set that says Rs 1.75 lakh crore worth of black money has come into the system? This is a huge question and we want to know whether the PM is befooling the nation. The RBI says it has not counted the money. The PM quotes the amount. Two contrary stands are being taken. Who is speaking the truth?” Azad said.

Cornering the PM on another point about women empowerment, the Congress said women were unsafe in BJP-ruled states and the hype around women empowerment was a sham. “In Haryana, the son of BJP president has been caught eve-teasing and chasing a woman. And the PM is talking of empowerment?” he said.