PUBLIC GRIEVANCE concerning RBI's MG series banknotes

PUBLIC GRIEVANCE concerning RBI's MG series banknotes

To:
The Nodal Regional Office Grievance Redressal Cell at New Delhi
Reserve Bank of India

Email: crcnewdelhi@rbi.org.in

cc: all "India Against Corruption" subscribers

BY EMAIL

MOST URGENT

Dear Sir / Madam,

Sub: PUBLIC GRIEVANCE concerning RBI's MG series banknotes, filed on behalf of affected Indian citizens by Er.Sarbajit Roy - National Convenor "India Against Corruption"

"India Against Corruption" is a nation wide people's movement ie, ' jan andolan', comprising of eminent patriotic intellectuals and men of action, digitally connected for selfless sacrifice and nation building and bound by a published 'code of conduct' and 'manifesto'. Many of us have regularly interacted with RBI over the years for promoting and ensuring financial inclusion among the poorest of the poor and the marginalised, see eg. [http://www.fipsforum.in].

As citizens of India affected and aggrieved by certain deeds of RBI, we would be obliged if the Reserve Bank of India immediately resolves our grievance/s as described below and within 35 days in any case as notified on your website.

1) That we are aggrieved that there is a very large number of MG series banknotes issued by RBI in circulation which are counterfeit, and the rate at which these counterfeit notes are being detected, both in India and abroad, is increasing exponentially by leaps and bounds. It is noteworthy that in the previous year the increase in detection of such counterfeit MG series notes was about 20% over the previous year where it was 15%. The directions issued by RBI last year for withdrawal of pre-2005 MG series banknotes have had no discernable effect in our opinion.

2) That we are aggrieved that the monitoring, detection and reporting of counterfeit notes in the country is inaccurate and grossly under-reported, and does not at all correspond to the practical experience of the citizenry who have to bear the brunt of this menace of high technology counterfeit MG series currency bank notes being pumped into the country by certain rogue nations, by misusing the existing banking, para-banking and criminal networks, and by taking advantage of rampant financial illiteracy and simple folk in the country.

3) That we are aggrieved the citizens of Hindustan are suffering an increased risk, which is presently at least 20%, each time we accept a MG series banknote purportedly issued by RBI, especially in the Rs. 100 and Rs. 500 denominations which is not easy to detect nowadays.

4) That we are aggrieved that a citizen who mistakenly accepts an MG series banknote in good faith, is thereby humiliated by either suffering personal injury by turning the note in, or being unwillingly turned into a criminal and rendered liable for prosecution under penal sections centering around section 489 IPC by passing it off to others. That because the affected citizens also include public servants like lowly bank tellers, bus conductors and petrol pump attendants, a miasma of fear, suspicion and confrontation is spreading throughout the country which needs to be actively defused and very urgently too.

5) That we are aggrieved that in approximately 25% of India's districts, comprising the remote and forested districts where the government hardly has actual presence on ground, the poor, marginal and illiterate citizens are reportedly being harassed by superior and well armed persons who are defacing, by tearing the corners/sides by about 20%, RBI's MG series banknotes to illustrate and drive home the relative worthlessness of RBI's MG series bank notes. These poor and defenceless persons, literally living under the gun, are being compelled to only circulate these torn notes locally, and in accordance with Gresham Law's, the RBI - and thereby the Indian State - has been effectively driven out of these areas. The undersigned encountered such hapless persons and defaced notes recently at Jantar Mantar/New Delhi when they had come to protest the Land Acquisition Bill, and who narrated their tales of woe to him barely a few furlongs from RBI's offices when they were not allowed into your Bank for lack of ID documents at the gate.

6) That we are greatly aggrieved that the RBI has exclusively printed banknotes with "Mahatma" Gandhi's visage in the last few decades. The increased circulation of these MG series bank notes is causing vast sections of India to be disaffected or alienated against the Indian State. That we feel it is high time that the RBI urgently reevaluates its position on circulating notes exclusively with images of "Mahatma" Gandhi and also honors and respects other Indian heroes from different regions, religions and castes, and in accordance with the letter and spirit of the Constitution of India, and to promote national integration.

Accordingly we, the citizens of India spearheaded by India Against Corruption, require that RBI resolves our collective grievance as follows, and preferably by a published assurance given to the undersigned within 35 days signed by a Deputy Governor of RBI on the following lines:-

A) That all the Rs. 100 denomination blue/grey banknotes of MG series shall be very soon replaced by predominantly red/black bank notes of BS series with image of Shaheed Bhagat Singh.

B) That all the Rs. 500 denomination yellow/green banknotes of MG series shall be very soon replaced by orange/black bank notes of SM series with image of Chhatrapathi Shivaji Maharaj.

C) That all the Rs. 1,000 denomination multi-coloured banknotes of MG series shall be very soon replaced by blue/green/purple bank notes of RT series with image of Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore

D) That a Rs.200 denomination bank note be issued in TS series with image of Tiger of Mysore "Tipu Sultan".

E) That additional series of educative bank notes with visages of iconic Indians in varied walks of lifes and regions shall be regularly added in all the standard denominations of Rs. 10, Rs. 20, Rs. 50. eg. Babasaheb Ambedkar, Jhansi ki Rani, Lala Lajpat Rai, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Veer Savarkar, Abul Kalam Azad, Netaji Subhash Bose etc. in large quantities to benefit and uplift the common people.

F) That considering the unique security and demographic threats against our 8 North-Eastern States, a special series of banknotes of Rs.100, Rs. 200, Rs. 500 and Rs. 1,000 denominations be rapidly issued to commemorate freedom fighters of the North-East like Rani Ma Gaidinliu, U Tirot Singh, Kanak Lata Barua, Tikendra Jit Singh etc. to forge their unity and clearly demonstrate that people of mainland India are reciprocally bound to acknowledge and respect unsung North-East heroes/martyrs contributions for the anti-colonial struggle.

G) That the term "very soon" means "expeditiously and not later than 6 months"

H) That the term "replaced" means "superceded through active measures to withdraw old series banknotes from circulation including devaluation or demonetisation to ensure their substitution"

NB: These are not suggestions or representations on our part, but are a formal request from the "India Against Corruption" movement for grievance redressal to safeguard the integrity of the Indian State, otherwise I and my subscribers shall increasingly cease to accept MG series suspicious banknotes and shall initiate a national "NO GANDHI" movement to challenge RBI and to educate Hindustanis about RBI's hollow promises, and to demand payment in sum exclusively in coinage upto Rupee 1,000 of acceptable weight, dimensions and values described in the Indian Coinage Act 1906-2011.

With best wishes and a hope that the utter seriousness of our reasonable request is considered favorably.

Sincerely

Sarbajit

National Convenor,
India Against Corruption

Date: 06 April 2015