If by mistake any civilized person wastes even a few minutes of another’s time, good manners demand that he should apologise immediately and sincerely. Here we have a strange spectacle in India of the Union government by a single decision forcing millions and millions of people to waste countless hours and days in queues and yet being not at all apologetic about this, rather bragging about it. This can happen only in incredible India. The only justification on the part of the government for such behavior can be that it is sure of demonetisation bringing so many benefits to the people and the economy after some time that it can afford to do away with apologies for the very apparent immediate distress and difficulties caused to people. Many people believe this to be the case. This is why even when affected very adversely by demonetisation, they have supported the government in the hope of seeing some light at the end of the tunnel. Many common people who struggle every day to make ends meet have a lot of resentment and anger against the lavish life style and arrogant behavior of the superrich, those who have loads of unaccounted or black money. So the first response of most such people was to support the government move, particularly as this was accompanied by so much propaganda as the most important step against black money aimed at those who have bagfuls of unaccounted wealth. Many people hoped that the arrogant rich would be deprived of most of this black money and this would help the government to provide more benefits to them. The government has propagated along similar lines and this belief has kept alive the hopes of many people despite all the distress. Government planning too must have been based on the realisation of such hopes, but now these plans and hopes of its supporters are increasingly jeopardized by two factors. Firstly, the difficulties inflicted by demonetisation on common people have turned out to be more acute and prolonged than was initially anticipated. This is more visible in cities, but is likely to be also felt even more acutely in rural areas, including remote areas where the supply of new currency notes has been very slow and meager due to a number of reasons. Stories of extreme distress suffered by people in rural as well as urban areas are being reported almost every day. The second and no less worrisome emerging fact is the possibility that the difficulties that were once considered to be short-term may lead to a longer-term crisis situation in the economy. After all if farmers face huge problems in selling their recently harvested crops and even more so the perishable crops like vegetables; if huge numbers of small enterprises are increasingly hindered in their daily activities by the cash crunch and if trade in a wide variety of goods is adversely affected this can lead to a crisis situation. Therefore this is a very critical time for the country, its people and economy. Having made some serious mistakes the government should wake up at least now to take remedial measures with a sense of urgency and implement these with efficiency so that these measures reach not just cities but even remote villages. These measures must be aimed first and foremost at providing immediate relief to common people, particularly weaker sections, from demonetization-related problems. Secondly, the government should very carefully monitor recent trends in the economy and integrate the remedial measures with steps for the overall health of the economy. In this context greater care will be needed in preparing the next budget. It is clear to anyone who looks at recent events impartially that the Union government’s preparation for the postdemonetisation situation was extremely poor and faulty. This raises serious questions about the information base of the government as well as its planning capability. Having abolished the Planning Commission with undue haste has the government made adequate efforts to set up alternative avenues of careful consultation and planning for important policy initiatives? Did it try to get the opinion of independent experts on demonetisation ( this could have been done without sacrificing secrecy)? It has been reported that the government decision on demonetisation was taken on the assumption that Rs. 500 notes are not used or saved to any significant extent by common folk particularly workers and small farmers. If such an assumption was indeed made, then one shudders at the levels of ignorance that exist at the highest levels in India. Is this the result of increasing domination of a culture of sycophancy in which independent adverse opinion is simply ignored and brushed aside arrogantly? While remedial actions to provide relief to people from demonetization-related distress are the immediate need, governance and planning reforms are also needed.