*representational image

*Mr. X was in the office of the Registrar of Land registration work.He paid a bribe sum of Rs 50,000 cash to the officer who got the registration work done. 

*Mr. Y had been running from pillar to post to get a mutation of the land he had bought.After he paid bribe sum of Rs 5000 to a staff, he got the mutation work done.

*My Z needed birth certificate of his newly born son.He filled up the form and paid Rs 500 bribe to the staff of the Ranchi Municipal Corporation.Soon, the birth certificate was issued to him.

These are not isolated cases.Without paying a bribe to the babus, the work-online or offline-was seldom done.Even in the post- demonetisation taking-giving bribe in the form of cash continued even as the bank accounts of all citizens were linked with their Aadhaar cards.

This has caused an unprecedented problem in the banking sector.Since bribe takers did not deposit tonnes of cash in their bank accounts due to the threat of Income Tax, they dumped the cash in their houses.As bribe taking-giving continued, millions and millions of rupees were dumped in their stores causing a shortage of cash in the banks-ATMs.

Now,  Several parts of Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and poll-bound Karnataka have reported a shortage of currency and ATMs running down.

Though the root cause was dumping of cash by corrupt babus, doctors, advocates and so on, the government today attributed to unusual spurt in demand in last three months.

Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the "temporary shortage" in certain states is being "tackled quickly" and that there is "more than adequate" currency in circulation.

Jaitley, who has been away from office since April 2 due to a kidney ailment, said he has reviewed the currency situation in the country.

"Overall there is more than the adequate currency in circulation and also available with the Banks. The temporary shortage caused by 'sudden and unusual increase' (in demand) in some areas is being tackled quickly," he said in a tweet.

The government is checking with banks and the Reserve Bank of India to ensure an adequate supply of currency.A statement by the finance ministry confirmed reports of cash shortages and some ATMs running dry of cash or becoming non-functional in some parts of the country.

"There has been an unusual spurt in currency demand in the country in last three months," it said.

While currency supply increased by Rs 45,000 crore in the first 13 days of April, "unusual spurt in demand" was seen more in some parts of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar, it said.  

Notwithstanding the government's view, the problem is not caused by 'spurt in currency demand.'Instead, it lies in a corruption-cash transaction between bribe takers and givers- as the bribe sums were getting dumped by the babus who were unable to use these huge sums in the market.Neither they were able to deposit the bribe money in the banks due to the linkage of their bank accounts with Aadhaar. 

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