Demonetization contd.: RBI and ATM

<p style="text-align: justify;">It&#8217;s been close to 40 days since demonetization was announced by the government. The number of ATMs that disburse cash has reduced to 13% of all the available ones, which implies that the <strong>probability of finding cash has further reduced</strong>. People still have to wait in queues for hours if not days together. So many have died that it hurts. When 68% of the economy transacts in cash, demonetization cannot be easy for most citizens.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;">Yet we all have found hope&#8230; in a possible digital economy, in an increased no of bank accounts, more compliance, more accountability and more. I hope that the political parties lead the charge by showing that to the country. I hope that all government offices will accept non-cash payments- for instance, my recent visit to the passport office required Rs 40 in cash for SMS sending for instance.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;">I know that in the past 40 days, I could get by with almost no cash because I never use any except for tips. The interesting thing is that the car drivers and others where I would use cash for a small tip don&#8217;t want me to waste my precious change to give them even though that may be important for them. It tells me that we all share the pain together.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;">The RBI with its ever changing rules has shown us that <strong>&#8220;Change is the only Constant&#8221;</strong>in our lives and yet in spite of all the misery- we found an incredible quality in the citizens. &#8220;Resilience&#8221;</p> <p style="text-align: justify;">Now moving to genomics and Genomepatri.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;">Well think about it, <strong>RBI</strong> could also be <strong>&#8220;Resilience by India&#8221;.</strong> Imagine if we did a study on a large population to see if our DNA showed resilience- I think it will&#8230; Mine did anyway.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;">We will keep our <strong>ATM</strong> open- &#8220;<strong>Any Time Mapmygenome&#8221; on our website at&nbsp;</strong><a href="https://mapmygenome.in/"><strong>Mapmygenome</strong> </a>where you can do an online transaction on our website with multiple options we have, or call us, email us to help you with the process- send us your saliva and we will have a report ready for you.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;">We can also look for other interesting traits like <strong>&#8220;Avoidance of errors&#8221;</strong> Essentially if you want to find out if you learn by your previous mistakes? &#8211; I am thinking in the current context, what we could learn by profiling our leaders DNA.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;">And while there are many more interesting things you can learn, I will stick to 3 for this post. The third one that makes sense in this context is <strong>Major Depressive Disorder</strong>. With everything that is going on around us, the environment may be a trigger for those for whom cash may be important for a livelihood. It may be worthwhile to see if one&#8217;s genes help offset these changes in the environment.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;">I hope that these issues around demonetization get fixed soon and regardless of the issues we have faced, we can convert this major adversity as an opportunity for the country.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;">Jai Hind</p> <p style="text-align: justify;">and</p> <p style="text-align: justify;">Jai Genome</p>