While the furore over cash crunch has taken over the entire country, the seven states in the
North East have been the worst affected. As the trucks carrying supplies to the hilly states have got stranded because of lack of change cash, these states are struggling hard as they hardly produce ample essentials in stock.
To make things easier, one village in
Mizoram has come up with an intelligent idea. Bordering Myanmar, Khawbung village’s shopkeepers are selling daily needs to the villagers with chits writing ‘I owe you Rs XXX’ in local language with the signature of buyer on it. These chits have become equivalent to cash transactions at the moment of crisis.
This state has been in news earlier for its custom of Nghahloh Dawr (unmanned street shop).
This idea of cashless transaction in credit was proposed by P.C.
Lalmachhuana, who owns a hardware shop in the village market. This idea is largely successful for the fact that it’s a closed community where everybody knows everybody.
Otherwise the condition of most villages in these states is horrific. Limited number ATMs aren’t dispensing cash all the time and people have to wait for hours to withdraw Rs 500. For some villages, the nearest bank is located almost 50 km away and going to bank means losing a day. Also the poor transport has turned worse as most public transport is closed due to lack of liquidity.
In such a crisis, currency from neighbouring country of
Bhutan is crossing borders and making its way to public. People are treating these foreign currencies as Indian rupee and getting their deals done.
