Tamil Nadu: DMK will organise a human chain in all district headquarters of Tamil Nadu on November 24 to condemn the Centre and the State governments for their failure to make contingency measures to overcome sufferings caused by demonetization of Rs. 500 and Rs 1000 currency notes.
Party leader M. Karunanidhi in a statement said the protest will be held between 4 p.m. and 5 p.m. and called upon traders, workers and farmers to take part in the event. DMK’s district secretaries will lead the human chain.
“There seems to be no end to the suffering of the people caused by the abolition of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes without adequate arrangements. The poor and daily wagers are standing in queue for hours and traders are severely affected by lack of smaller denomination of currencies,” he said.
Karunanidhi also said that even though the Opposition leaders raised the issue in Parliament, Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not bother to response to their concerns. “In Tamil Nadu the state government also failed to make any arrangements to help the people,” he alleged. (Tamil Nadu C.M. is currently in hospital where she has been receiving treatment for last two months and may not be aware of situation).
Tirpur, Manchester of India, paralyzed
One of the most flourishing industries of Tamil Nadu has been the cotton weaving and apparel industry of Tirpur.
The garment industry in Tiruppur is made of three types of units: exporters, merchant exporters who receive subcontract work from exporters, and domestic suppliers.
Exports — a Rs.22,000-crore turnover business — are primarily cashless. Yet demonetisation has tangentially affected exporters because they have to engage peripherally with cash-based subcontracts for ‘job works’ such as knitting, buttoning, small servicing, printing, packing to merchant exporters. The merchant exporters themselves are small units with a workforce paid in cash.
The cash crunch has halted 25 per cent of subcontracts commissioned by exporters, says T.R. Vijaya Kumar, general secretary, Tirupur Exporters’ Association (TEA), that has over 1,000 members. The exporters will have to deal with penalty of 20 per cent additional costs on shipments that will now be airlifted.
It’s domestic suppliers who are facing the demonetisation heat the most. They include micro units and sections that are partly, largely or fully run on cash.
The garment industry in Tiruppur has 8 lakh employees; 4 lakh in direct employment and another 4 lakh in subsidiary units such as knitting, dyeing, printing, embroidering, spinning, accessories. Of this, 20 per cent or 1.6 lakh workers are estimated to be unorganised workforce. There are 2,000 small, medium and tiny units — now facing the prospect of phased lockout — that provide work to this unorganised workforce.
