2nd edition of Mysuru Literature Festival: Demonetisation has not fulfilled its promise, says former RBI Governor

Mysuru:  “Demonetisation has not fulfilled its promise. Before demonetisation, authorities should have considered the capacity of note printing presses to print such a huge volume of currency notes. Since more than 60 to 70  percent of the notes had to be printed, it takes months to print and here lies the problem,” said 14th Finance Commission Chairman and former Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Dr. Yaga Venugopal Reddy, better known as Y.V. Reddy.

He was answering questions from audience after delivering the keynote address at the second edition of Mysuru Literature Festival organised by Mysuru Literary Forum Charitable Trust and Mysuru Book Clubs 2015 at Wind Chimes in Nazarbad here this morning.

“Everyone is still saying that almost all the money has come back into the system. It is not for the banks to say it is white or black money. That is the role of the Income Tax Department and demonetisation does not deal with this,” he said.

In an address that was full of wit and humour that lasted for nearly 40 minutes, Dr. Reddy, 77, took the audience through his life journey and said that reception for good ideas is not that automatic. His disclaimer was that he is not going to talk about RBI and the current situation.

“I wrote the first book as a 15-year-old when I was a student of Government Arts College, Ananthapur and the title was “Evils of Casteism.” When I read it again before coming here, I find that the evil remains even after six decades,” he said.

Recalling about the his Ph.D thesis on Multi-level Planning which was his first full-fledged publication in 1978, Dr. Y.V. Reddy said that when he read it recently, he found it dense and difficult to read as it was his obsession with brevity and technical perfection. “After this book I came to be known among the regional planners and others as Multi-level Planning Reddy,” he said. Dwelling on the time when he joined as the Deputy Governor, Reserve Bank of India (RBI), he said that communication through speeches was one of the functions of the Deputy     Governor and what he did not say was as important as what he had to say.

He pointed out that when he became the Governor of RBI in 2003, the position changed as it was at a higher and more sensitive level of communication. “More important what the Governor does not say is as important as the Governor says in his speeches. Every word that is used has to be carefully weighed,” he said.

Talking about his stint as 14th Finance Commission Chairman, Dr. Reddy said that he felt like he was in solitary confinement as he could not go out of the country and not talk inside the country. “After the assignment, I decided to write about my encounters with the Chief Ministers but I was told it was confidential and I could not write about it,” he said to bursts of laughter.

Founder of Book Clubs 2015 Shubha Sanjay Urs welcomed. Mysuru Literary Forum Charitable Trust Administrator C.R. Hanumanth introduced Dr. Reddy. Sam Cherian introduced entrepreneur and author Aroon Raman. On the occasion, magazine ‘The Book Leaf’ was released, Treasurer Vinaya Prabhavathi proposed a vote of thanks. Former Prasaranga Director Prof. C. Naganna and Shashikala of Book Clubs 2015 conducted the programme.

I first became literate in Kannada

Former RBI Governor Dr. Y.V. Reddy began his address by revealing that he first became literate in Kannada and even as he uttered these words there was loud clapping.

“I first became literate in Kannada as a child as my father was in Ballari. Then I learnt Tamil and Telugu. As the three language formula was introduced, I realised that I had become semi-literate in all the three languages. But I always wanted to write in Telugu as the heart speaks when you want to write in Telugu and when you want to write in English, the mind speaks,” he said.