A couple of days ago, we listed the 10 worst rumours which were circulating in the mainstream media and the social media with regards to the demonetisation scheme, which were causing unnecessary panic and misinformation. And even as some of those rumours might still be circulating, we were informed of even more such rumours. Here are the next set of rumours you ought to be aware of:
1. Indelible ink to be used to identify people who’ve made withdrawals
This comes from the latest press conference by the Economic Affairs Secretary Mr Shaktikanta Das. Even some editors and media houses claim this:
The fact is, as seen in this video where the secretary is seen announcing the measure, the indelible ink will be used only for over-the-counter exchange (and not withdrawals) of cash for new currency notes. This is not a new rule per-se because even the original notification said that the Rs 4000 (now Rs 4500) exchange mechanism was available to each person only once, and not per day. Hence the use of ink only ensures stricter implementation of an existing rule.
2. Colour comes out of new 2000 rupee note, so it could be fake or insecure
Some viral messages and videos doing the rounds claim that the new 2000 rupee note is poorly designed and printed, especially because colour comes out if you rub it with wet a cloth. This too was rebutted by the Economic Affairs Secretary, who revealed that every note will have colour coming out if rubbed in that fashion. In fact, he added that due to a special ink used for pinting notes, the colour should come out of new notes. He clarified that even the 100 rupee notes, when freshly printed, would show similar results when rubbed with wet cloth or cotton.
3. There are only 2500 ATMs in rural India
A person connected with the Congress party was spreading this news on social media that was believed by many in the mainstream media. This is very far from the truth. As on 31 Dec 2015, the number of ATMs in rural centres was 33,250, and in semi-urban centres there were 51,942 ATMs
4. Any woman who is about to be married can withdraw up to Rs 5 lakhs rupees
You might have seen this WhatsApp forward:
There is no truth in this. Neither the RBI nor the Government of India has announced any such measure. Further, variants of the message bear the name of one Avinash Singh who is the ADM of some city. He too has written a letter denying any such option for women about to be married. DCP North Delhi has also denied this rumour:
There is NO such decision that if DCP certifies regarding marriage in family, person can withdraw 5 Lacs from their account. It’s a #Rumor!
— Madhur Verma (@DCP_North_Delhi) November 13, 2016
Update (17 Nov 2016): Now the government has allowed families, who have weddings coming up, to withdraw up to 2.5 lakhs from banks.
5. Sensex falls by almost 700 points as markets open after weekends
The Indian Express tweeted this but probably forgot that Monday 14th November was a holiday for the bourses on account of Gurunanak Jayanti:
6. Gandhiji’s pic deleted from new Rs 2000 note
This is probably the most stupid rumour but there are people who actually believe this. Just hope they had flipped the note and seen the reverse. This is the case with most older notes as well, Gandhiji’s picture is only on one side.
@ikaveri it’s there yaar pic.twitter.com/HZgg7csWHX
— Nishant Gambhir (@madnish30) November 8, 2016
7. RBI plans mass leave on November 19 to protest against Modi’s Black Money Campaign
You might see this news on sites like “The Times Headline”
Fact of the matter is this news is based on a similar story from 2015, when Reserve Bank’s employees proposed one-day mass leave to protest what they termed as the government’s intention to curb the apex bank’s activity and intervening into monetary policies. This is a story from 2015 and has no relevance today. AAP too has been caught using old news articles to create confusion and chaos.
8. Gold (presumably converted from black money) worn by BJP leader’s daughter
Earlier Congress IT cell circulated picture of an unidentified girl, claiming she was a BJP leader’s daughter with bundle of new 2000 rupee notes. Same trick has been repeated again by circulating picture of a girl wearing gold ornaments and claiming she was a BJP leader’s daughter. A journalist working at The Hindu even tried to link it with the demonetisation drive. Perhaps to suggest that people related to BJP have already converted their black money into other assets, as is being claimed by Arvind Kejriwal. Fact is the girl in the picture circulated on social media is not BJP leader’s daughter, and in fact doesn’t look like her even remotely.
9. News about demonetisation was leaked and published in a Gujarati newspaper in April this year
Congress and AAP have claimed that the news about demonetisation was leaked to some people and they have been making ridiculous claims as proof. One such proof is provided as cutting of a Gujarati newspaper that has a news report published in April, which said that government has decided to discontinue 500 and 1000 rupee notes.
Truth is that the above news report was actually a April Fool’s prank that the Gujarati newspaper had published.
10. Gujarati businessman who bought Modi’s suit deposited 6000 crores in cash
A viral news article claimed that Surat based businessman Laljibhai Patel had surrendered a whopping 6000 crore rupees in cash after the demonetisation drive. He was identified as the same diamond merchant who had bought Narendra Modi’s monogrammed suit, which was auctioned by the Prime Minister to raise funds for cleaning of river Ganga. After the news went viral, local media contacted Mr. Patel, who denied surrendering such huge amount of cash. He pointed out that even the unverified reports say that the man rumoured to have surrendered so much cash was a builder, while he was a diamond merchant.
Funnily, or rather tragically, The Indian Express blamed the social media for spreading the rumour, while its sister publication was the one guilty in spreading this rumour:
“Surat guy surrendered 6k crore”: @FinancialXpress https://t.co/zMIDxDIHaB
Nw @IndianExpress blames SM fr false news https://t.co/wiebYGsvNQ— Neha Srivastava (@neha_aks) November 15, 2016
