This Article is From Nov 25, 2016

Remote Northeast Villages Face Cash Crunch, Poor Banking Networks Adds To Pain

In Arunachal Pradesh, people are returning to the barter system and in Mizoram they are using coupons.

Pabhoi, Biswanath, Assam: The Centre had claimed special measures have been taken to send new notes to the far flung corners of the Northeast after it banned 500 and 1,000 rupee notes.

To check on this claim, NDTV travelled to the remote Assamese village cluster of Pabhoi in Biswanath district near the Arunachal Pradesh border. These villages on the north bank of the Brahmaputra are known for their rice, fisheries and lush green tea estates.

At Pabhoi, NDTV spoke to 55-year-old farmer Baneshwar Bora, who said he is left without any cash after he deposited his savings in the local bank and post office.

"After the announcement, I deposited the most of the old notes. Since then, I have been running from pillar to post to get some of these old notes exchanged, but the new currency has not reached our village. This is the harvest season, now I am left with no money," Mr Baneshwar said.

Mr Baneshwar's story is a reflection of almost everyone in Pabhoi and most villages in Northeast India. 

After the by-election win in Assam and Arunachal Pradesh, the BJP claimed that people have approved of demonetization.

But, the cash crunch in the Northeast is an old issue as the banking network in this part of the country has always been poor.

According to banking sector sources, nearly 40 districts in the Northeast have less than 10 full-fledged banks. Of the 3,723 bank branches across the Northeast, only 180 have currency chests.

"We are facing a lot of problems due to unavailability of new currency notes, we have conveyed this to SBI. Once the new currency comes in, we will have to collect the money from the branch at Tezpur, a two-hour drive," said Jadav Chandra Nath, the Assam Gramin Vikas Bank's Biswanath Charali branch manager.

Tripura Gramin Bank employee Shubham Chakraborty said: "Our customers are not very educated. We do a lot of work to make them financially literate. Now, this new policy has made our task even more daunting."

In Arunachal Pradesh, people are returning to the barter system, while in Mizoram they are using coupons instead of currency to buy goods.

In this sea of despair, there are some who feel the demonetisation is necessary.

"Initially, we will face problems, but this is for the good. Our future generations can live in a less corrupt environment," said Nelam Dutta, a 31-year-old start up entrepreneur from Biswanath Charali promoting organic farming.
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