, Columnist
India Goes Cashless
A move to attack black money is bold but perhaps premature.
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It certainly took everyone in India by surprise. But then, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has a flair for the dramatic. In an unexpected primetime address on Tuesday, he announced that in a few hours, millions of high-denomination currency notes would no longer be legal tender. It was the only way, he insisted, to deal with “the disease” of unaccounted-for income -- or “black money,” as it’s called in India. “Your money will remain yours,” he assured a stunned citizenry -- as long as you get around to depositing it in post offices sometime over the next several weeks.