Money mischief

Reforming labour markets would be a better use of Narendra Modi's political capital than justifying the note ban

In 1341, Mohammed bin Tughlaq suffered a heavy drain upon the treasury from his munificence in dealing with the distress caused by his decision to move the capital to Daulatabad and back again, as the new capital did not have an adequate water supply. With many perishing on the two forced marches, the sultan opened the fisc to mitigate the distress of his subjects. To meet this fiscal drain, the sultan made his famous experiment of instituting a token currency of brass and copper to replace the silver and gold coinage. But he forgot that the success of this scheme