Rs 500, Rs 1,000 notes ban: Mild Anil Bokil is the quiet catalyst of India's massive cash spin

Behind Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s dramatic announcement demonitising Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes in one stroke to battle the menace of black money, there is one low-profile unassuming individual who motivated the PM to take such a bold step — Anil Bokil founder of Maharashtra based  NGO, Arthkranti Pratisthtan. [caption id=“attachment_3099242” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Anil Bokil. Image from Facebook[/caption] Unlike the many mavericks on the streets who outrageously demonstrate their ‘patriotism’, the Aurangabad-based mechanical engineer and chartered accountant Bokil has always been a silent crusader looking for ways and methods to protect India’s bleeding economy from the evils of black money. Thinking ahead of his times, Bokil was always aware of the harm that physical money would cause in the long run and realised how crucial it was for the country to go digital on money matters. “We are more into physical transaction involving cash (compared to other countries). Because of the physical exchange of cash we do not have any records of the cash transactions between two individuals who have entered into an exchange of money…We should encourage bank transactions or electronic payment modes,” he had apparently told ETV Marathi in 2009 itself. According to a report on India.com, Bokil met PM Modi in 2013 where he was given less than 10 minutes to present his strategy to the PM on how black money that was profusely circulating in the country could be tackled. The Prime Minister was apparently so engrossed with the proposed idea that he spent over two hours, far more than his schedule actually allotted to the CA and ended up discussing the methods to fight the problem. One of such method was the immediate stop on the circulation of high denomination currency notes. A Facebook page that is maintained by his organisation Arthkranti Pratisthtan (Trust) said that “the plight of unemployed workers in industrial zone during Industrial recession in 1996” when he was associated with a cluster of engineering workshops in Maharashtra’s Aurangabad MIDC actually motivated him to enter into the terrain of the economy and economics. He soon realised that it was paramount India becomes self-sustainable and a corruption free money zone was essential for it.