The Coalition for a Democratic India (CDI) organized a seminar on the topic, 'Data Democracy: Finance, Information and Power' at the St. Peter's Episcopal Church, Cambridge, MA on March 18th, 2017 between 3 pm to 7 pm. This seminar was organized as part of the event to celebrate the struggles of all people on the occasion of 86th anniversary of the martyrdom of Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev. This seminar focused on the impact of India's demonetization.
Mr. Jaspal Singh, the Advisory Board Member of the CDI, welcomed the audience and speakers of the seminar and provided a brief description of the seminar topic and the struggle of all the heroes of India's Independence and made the audience to remember these freedom fighters: Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev Thapar and Shivaram Rajguru who were the great sons of India and breathed their last as 'martyrs'.
Mr. Arif Hussain, the Director of the CDI, gave the overview of CDI and the purpose of the seminar: The Government of India announced the demonetization of all ₹500 (US$7.40) and ₹1,000 (US$15) banknotes on 8th November 2016 to curtail the shadow economy and crack down on the use of illicit and counterfeit cash to fund illegal activity and terrorism. The sudden nature of the announcement and the prolonged cash shortages in the weeks that followed created significant disruption throughout the economy. He therefore said that this seminar was organized to learn from the personal experiences and public data whether demonetization move was poorly planned and unfair to the public and other institutions in the society and also to propose some suggestions to plan properly the future economic reformations in India.
Ajinkya Deshmukh, a HealthCare Technology Consultant and Socio-political Volunteer spoke about his personal urban experiences due to demonetization program with special reference to Nagpur city in Maharashtra. Ms. Neela J., an Activist and Social worker talked about the ground perspectives of rural women and their unpleasant experiences due to demonetization program with reference to their savings and getting their wages from the bank under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) through street plays. Mr. Pratyush Bharati, a Teacher and Human Rights, Justice and Peace Activist who described 'Rhetoric and Reality' of demonetization with public economic data. Mr. Rajesh Kasturirangan talked about 'Information Control vs. Democracy,' He also said that money is becoming more and more like information and data. The recent push for demonetization and a cashless economy is a master stroke in the evolution of information and power. He described the way the "information ideology" works and colonizes our minds and understand the contours of democracy in this new era.
The Seminar was followed by delicious dinner and lovely cultural program with patriotic poetry recitations, and singing songs by local singes and writers such as Manoj, Neena Wahi, Jay J, Aditya Nochur, Pankaj, Maitreya, Jaspal Singh, Kshama Ananthapura, Arun Chaudhari, Abha Chaudhari and others to celebrate peoples' struggles on the occasion of 86th anniversary of the martyrdom of Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev. The Master of Ceremony of this event was Ms. Sarah Figge Hussain who put together meticulously this event for the audience.
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