Spirit of volunteerism to the fore for those in queue

In a measure to curb black money in the country, the Modi government denotified currency notes in the denomination of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 on Tuesday last with immediate effect. What followed next was confusion and chaos outside banks and post offices, where people lined-up to get hold of legal tender, including the Rs 100s and Rs 50s, or exchange the expired currency. The exercise has caused some hardship for senior citizens, many of whom struggle with the paperwork. There are also a number of ordinary people many of whom have never visited a bank. To them, the paperwork is daunting. The incorrectly filled forms have forced bank staff to send the applicants away empty-handed, asking to come back with the forms filled correctly. 

Media reports of the news was enough to make Vijay Anand, of the The Startup Centre, who put up the volunteer form on social media platforms. “We have received 20 calls so far. I am already in talks with a couple of banks and some of them are happy to have our support. Depending on the number of volunteers who enrol, we plan to cover as many areas as possible,” says Vijay Anand. 

Those who wish to help them can now fill an online form where people can fill their basic details, including the area and the days when they will be available and the time period they can serve for. A person must volunteer to be on the ground for at least four hours in one of the locations (banks / post offices). They will have to help old people and those who have trouble reading and writing, in filling of the forms. Also, they should be able to help manage the crowd, if required.Vijay Anand also says the plan is also to map ATMs that either have or don’t have cash, co-ordinating emergency services (medicines, food etc that people might require), co-ordinating with government departments, fact checking about rumours that cause panic and also setup a hotline for emergencies. “A spreadsheet of the information on ATMs is already available online. All that people have to do is to name the ATM, location and add whether it has cash or no cash. This will help people to know where to find cash,” says Vijay.