This is how the new Rs 500 and Rs 2000 notes look like

Prime Minister Narendra Modi took the nation by surprise by announcing the scrapping of 500 and 1000 notes from midnight.

The government has decided to induct new currency notes of Rs 500 and Rs 2000 denominations.

Here’s how they look like..

The NDA government has been fighting the menace of black money and corruption ever since it assumed power two years ago.

Narendra Modi also urged people to help government in its fight against fake currency and black money.

Some excerpts from his speech today, governance and progress for all is our motto. We are focused on empowerment of the poor. A series of schemes we have introduced all aim at this. This is a government for our farmers. Corruption and black money are diseases rooted in this country, they are obstacles to our success.

We are among fastest-growing economies, but we also rank so high in global corruption rankings. Terror strikes at the innocent. Who funds these terrorists? Across the border, our enemy uses fake currency and dodgy funds to sponsor terror – this has been proven repeatedly.

Our measures to check black money are paying off. A voluntary disclosure scheme for undeclared money saw a good response. A Special Investigating Team is making progress to identify who has sent money abroad.

He also said that already 1.25 lakh crores of black money has been recovered by the government.