Selfie craze amongst those with otherwise useless new Rs 2,000 notes

Apart from clicking selfies with the newly launched Rs 2,000 notes and uploading it on social networking sites or showing it to friends, the newbie note remained useless for many who stood for hours in long queues on Thursday to obtain it. The problem arose as nobody including shopkeepers/vendors were ready to give change against it if someone spent a portion of Rs 2,000.

As citizens were unaware of the shock ban, most of them did not have adequate notes of Rs 100 or Rs 50 denominations to continue their livelihood for few days. Some of them somehow managed to survive on Wednesday despite all banks and ATMs being closed.

Speaking to Millennium Post, most of them who have deposited Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 notes following the withdrawal of Rs 10,000 (the maximum limit for a day), the bank staff handed them over five notes of Rs 2,000 denomination. In case they withdrew a lesser amount, they were asked to come on Friday as the banks said they were short of change.

Since Thursday morning, the bankers have been saying that the denomination of Rs 100 had finished in the early hours itself. This factor remained the major cause of scuffles or quarrels inside and outside the banks.

Meanwhile, people were also curious to know when would Rs 500 notes be available as the banks clearly stated that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has not given them the new note yet. 

The lower middle class and uneducated people remained most affected with Prime Minister Narendra Modi government’s overnight decision as no one is volunteering for help. 

Even bank staff lost their temper in dealing with customers, post afternoon. People claimed that the decision would have been more appreciated if it was better planned.