Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, while speaking at an anti-corruption conference hosted by CBI here, said the step taken by Modi government was a "transformative game changer" exercise.
"The present decision of our government to put Rs 500 and Rs 1000 out of legal tender is being debated but if you see the part of architecture our government has done over the years then you will find that this was a natural corollary of initiatives taken by the Narendra Modi government...Why this decision of taking out Rs 500 and Rs 1000?...It's a very simple reply.
Prasad, also the Minister for Electronics and IT, said while he agrees that there "will be some inconvenience for a week or ten days" to the masses, such a step is a "transformative game changer exercise and I am very proud of my Prime Minister that he has chosen to do so."
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Prasad said his government has brought in transparency in a number of spheres of governance including the two most talked about corruption issues during the previous government - the 2G spectrum allocation and the coal blocks allotment.
Talking about the 'Digital India' initiative of the government, the Minister said his government wants to make India an "empowered society."
He said due to initiatives taken by the government for financial inclusion, the poor have deposited Rs 42,000 crore in their bank accounts till now.
Prasad added an amount of Rs 36,000 crore has been "saved" by these initiatives of using digital technology and using Aadhaar else it would have been pilfered by middlemen.
"There have been aberrations...But they have been largely officer-centric. CBI is an important tool of trust," he said.
The Minister asked the officials participating in the '22nd Conference of CBI, state Anti-Corruption Bureaux and Vigilance Bureaux and Economic Offences Wings' to deal with the menace of ponzi crimes in a "stringent manner."
He also asked the CBI to enhance capacity building for itself and enhance digitisation of its work.