HYDERABAD: It has been exactly a month since demonetisation, 86 per cent of circulating currency in the country has been withdrawn; the nation is gasping without cash which has led to mass shock. Not to mention the 84 people who died either waiting in the queues or running again and again to the banks for cash. While the move, maybe an attempt to sweep away black money, it’s not just the citizens who are severely affected, tourists and foreign students are facing the troubling times, too. Hyderabad, which is the apparently the second safest destination for students from Central Asia and Middle East is witnessing the whiplash of severe cash crunch on the young students. Unfortunately, universities and colleges have not arranged for any help for the hapless students. They have been left on their own.
Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) offers 3,000 scholarships every year to students from countries like Palestine, Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen, etc. Most of them come to Hyderabad as it’s the safe haven for them where they study in peace.
Even local students are complaining that the colleges and universities are demanding only ‘cash’ for forms, fines, etc. Without cash students especially those from overseas feel tight-fisted. The long queues and loose change tightly clapsed in students hands have become a regular sight. The locals at least have families to fall back on. Life has suddenly become tougher for foreign students. Ife, 19 from Nigeria and is studying Mass Communication in St. Francis College. She was running from pillar to post for cash. She had to survive cashless for days and she is still struggling. Ask about her international ATM card and she rues, “My international debit card was blocked after some monetary hiccups that happened in the respective back home. And after that came the demonetisation making life more difficult for me.” She tried encashing the Western Union cheque of Rs 50,000.
The amount was high hence her cheque wasn’t accepted. She lives near her college and is saving money by walking for her classes. “My landlord has already asked me several times for the rent. I don’t know what to do.” She is not suffering alone. There are many students like her. Says her batch-mate Hafsat who is also from Nigeria, “I can’t withdraw as much money as I want. The other day when I was standing in the queue in front of an ATM in Begumpet. A man came and I was asked to go at the end of queue. It was so annoying.”
Many of these students are either cutting down their expenses or relying on close friends for cash. But getting cash is also not easy since the entire country is suffering. However, it’s a big problem for those who are new to the city or have arrived recently. Hasan Yahya a student of EFLU pursuing his Masters in English Literature has to face a nightmare. “I had Rs 10,000 in cash. I was travelling and by the time I came back banks had stopped accepting old currency notes.”
He went to the bank for the exchange of notes, but they didn’t accept as the time for the same had lapsed. After struggling for days, he approached the bank manager, opened a new account and deposited his money. His another major worry is finding a new men’s hostel as he’s problems with the sour food at the current hostel. “If I shift to a new one, they ask for three-months rent. Some of them want it in cash. What do I do? I have no option but to stay where I am staying.”
A lot of people from Central Asian countries choose India for their medical treatment. But cash crunch has put a brunt on their relatives staying or studying in India. “I actually faced the normal problem of standing in the queue for a long time, and the result of that is only Rs 2,000! My friends who come here for medical treatment cannot speak English; they usually stay for short time, they need not have bank accounts, so they are the ‘victims’ of the demonetisation; it becomes burden upon us to provide them with the currency,” says Ahmed Fuad Musawa a research student from Osmania University who is from Yemen.
Ahmed Al Saiqali from Palestine a PhD scholar from Osmania University has a different take. He has lived in the city for years with his family. For day-to-day needs he requires cash which is troublesome especially since he has a young child. He says, “Maybe this move is good for India. I feel withdrawal of Rs 24,000 is decent enough for a foreign national to survive i.e., if the fees are to be paid. But at the same time there is no cash in the banks. How can one survive? We can’t come and stand in the long queues in the bank everyday.”