Kejriwal demands white paper on demonetisation

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said today people of the country suffered "immensely" due to demonetisation and asked the Centre to come out with a "white paper" on what was achieved through it.

The chief minister's demand came after the RBI said 99.3 per cent of the junked Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes have returned to the banking system.

"People suffered immensely due to demonetization. Many died. Business suffered. People have a rt to know - what was achieved thro demonetization? Govt shud come out wid a white paper on the same (sic)," Kejriwal tweeted.

In the past, Kejriwal and his party have hit out at the BJP-led central government over demonetisation.

Last year, he had demanded an independent inquiry on demonetisation, calling it the "scam of all scams".

The Reserve Bank of India, after an awfully long period of counting of returned bank notes, said today that as much as 99.3 per cent of the junked notes have returned to the banking system.

Of the Rs 15.41 lakh crore worth Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes in circulation on November 8, 2016, when the note ban was announced, notes worth Rs 15.31 lakh crore have been returned.

This meant just Rs 10,720 crore of the junked currency did not return to the system.

Also, Congress demanded an apology from Prime Minister Narendra Modi for allegedly lying to the country over the demonetisation issue.