what makes you think that?
If the government came and said "Because terrorists drive cars between the hours of 1pm-3pm, we are banning all car use between those times." You wouldn't say they replaced the current driving rules with newer ones, you'd be upset you couldn't drive between 1pm-3pm and instead had to use a less efficient means to carry out your business.
The government is unjustly punishing the whole class because some individuals made the decision to break the rules, and as punishment, it is now harder to maintain financial privacy. Yay. Just what I wanted, less privacy in the age of everything is in a database and everyone is on a list.
They removed Rs500 and Rs1000 from circulation, yes. A newer _Rs2000_ is already in circulation and a newer Rs500 soon to follow. So this statement is inherently wrong.
> If the government came and said "Because terrorists drive cars between the hours of 1pm-3pm, we are banning all car use between those times."
The govt actually said "Because terrorists drive fake cars of model A and B, we're making it illegal to drive A and B on the roads. Anyone who has a legit model can take it to the manufacturer to get it replaced by a newer model." I'd still be upset about the discomfort, but at least the example used would be more accurate.
> The government is unjustly punishing the whole class because some individuals made the decision to break the rules, and as punishment, it is now harder to maintain financial privacy. Yay. Just what I wanted, less privacy in the age of everything is in a database and everyone is on a list.
It is currently estimated that just 1% of Indians pay their taxes [1]. I don't have any views on whether there will be a drop in financial privacy (since I see the govt tracking bank accounts, which they were always able to do), but I'll be glad to see that number rise from a paltry 1%. Also, cash transactions aren't outlawed, so you're more than welcome to keep you transaction "private" if you please. There are talks of a cap to cash transactions, but nothing has really materialized yet.
And finally, I'm not for or against the measures the govt is following. I'm glad _something_ is being done, but am also skeptical about how effective it will be in the long run. It will depend on what additional measures the govt. brings to curb further accumulation of black money with the new denominations, and the ability to buy and hoard assets bought by said black money.
[1] http://www.cnbc.com/2016/05/03/guess-how-many-people-pay-tax...
This has happened in India before without issues. The current problems exist because of the scale at which it is being done and the short period of notice given.
Digital payments are taking off because there is a shortage of currency for the amount of money being demonetized. This is not a move made by the Indian government to push surveillance or other nefarious purposes.