Face the decline

To suggest that demonetisation improved rural wages on the basis of rise in income of some workers is misleading. It halted the recovery of the rural economy, which had begun after the 2016 monsoon.

There is now a consensus that the economy has been slowing down and is headed for a hard landing. Many who matter have spoken out and as Yashwant Sinha points out (‘I need to speak up now’, IE, September 27) the rest are afraid to speak out for fear of retribution. But there are some who are still trying to spin half-truths as facts. Surjit Bhalla, who was recently appointed to the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council, seems to have suddenly discovered the data on rural wages and has found that demonetisation has contributed to rising rural wages (‘Data vs gossip: Who should win?’ IE, September 30). He has not only added to the long list of objectives of demonetisation (most of which remained unfulfilled) but has also credited demonetisation for rising wages. The claim is based on his analysis of rural wage data for two categories of workers, ploughmen and carpenters.

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