No data to ascertain note-ban impact on daily workers

New Delhi: If the claims of the government are to be believed, there was no impact of demonetisation of daily wage earners in the country as the Centre has claimed that the Labour Ministry has no such data to validate the impact of the decision to ban high denomination notes in 2016.

In a reply to a question of Trinamool Congress member Derek O' Brien about the impact of demonetisation on daily wage earners, the government told Rajya Sabha that there was no such input available with Labour Ministry, which is a custodian of protecting the rights of daily wage workers in the country.

In a written reply to Rajya Sabha, Minister of State (I/C) for Labour and Employment Santosh Kumar Gangwar said, "Employment as daily wage earners depends on a variety of factors and it is difficult to pinpoint the degree of impact of demonetisation thereon.

In contrary to government claims, studies had pointed that demonetisation had resulted in the extinguishing of jobs, especially in the informal sector. The Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy had in 2017 estimated that 1.5 million jobs were lost during the January-April period.

Meanwhile, BJP president Amit Shah had in 2017said that demonetisation had led to the expansion of the formal economy and brought black money into the government's treasury which is being used for people's benefit.