Earlier in the first week of November, India had asked Interpol member- countries to pay immediate attention to tackling counterfeiting of currency. Lest more countries fall prey to the schemes of the organised crime syndicates who operate such illegal crime, global efforts must be forged to fight this menace. And India, having experienced first hand the unprecedented rise in fake currency should take whatever measures as currency counterfeiting poses a grave threat to national security and economic stability. There are reliable reports pointing to the unprecedented rise in fake currency circulation especially along border areas. The northeastern States because of its geographical location become the first target of those who operate such illegal activity and therefore the need to focus greater attention along the areas bordering Myanmar and Bangladesh. In this regard, one should welcome the latest move of the Union Home Ministry to prevent counterfeiting of Indian currency. The two prone strategy, to order intensified surveillance of borders while also suggesting to the Finance Ministry to put additional security features in currency notes is a welcome move and must be made operational as soon as possible. The state governments in the region must also do its part by giving assistance to the Home Ministry directive and ensuring to prevent fake notes from coming into the country.
Even in the commercial hub of Dimapur, there have been regular instances of fake currency making its way into public money transactions. The State government should take serious note of this and respond urgently before the local economy is adversely affected by such spurious money supply. At the end of the day, the innocent public will suffer. What should worry the government of Nagaland is that there are increasing evidence of sponsored counterfeiting with the sinister objectives of terrorist funding and promoting transnational organised crime—be it arms and drug trafficking. This has already been highlighted in particular by the Ao Students Conference (AKM) alerting the Director General of Police. Further, it is a fact that National Highway 39 passing through Kohima and Dimapur has become a major transit route for anti-social elements and this should itself be a matter of serious concern for the government to pay immediate attention before the very stability of the local economy falls under threat of those scheming organised crime syndicates. The government can take the lead and set up a special task force to look into counterfeit currency cases and related anti-social crimes.
For most people in the State, the sinister design involving counterfeit money is yet to be fully understood or even realized as a major issue of concern. It is therefore of outmost importance to create awareness of the problem and to educate the public and more importantly to also providing the necessary safeguard measures to be followed. The concerned Home Ministry of the State government must step in to provide the necessary public information on counterfeit currency and also what the law says about such crimes and other related questions such as whether a person can be imprisoned for “unknowingly” holding and using counterfeit currency, or is it the responsibility of the individual to verify authenticity and if so how such fraudulent currency can be detected etc. Such information and safety measures can be put up in the public domain to create awareness on the dangers of counterfeit currency. Only when the public is properly educated, will they be able to remain alert and assist in the fight against such crimes. While there could be many steps (some of them daunting) that can be taken in fighting this crime, but maybe the most important tool is awareness as the first step towards eradication.
