Prime Minister Narendra Modi while speaking about the effect of demonetisation and how people are going cashless, had referred to a video where a beggar is seen using a swipe machine. Though he did not vouch for the authenticity of the video, it is learned that the video is actually two years old!
The video was a promotional video made by a Hyderabad-based data processing and visualisation company – Numero Graphic Creative Solutions Private Limited.
It shows a beggar telling a woman in a car that she can pay him with her debit card and pulls out a PoS (point of sale) machine. , was made in November 2013 and posted on YouTube on January 16, 2014.
It was shot near a temple in Banjara Hills in Hyderabad. The co-founder of Numero Graphic Kulpreet Kaur and her colleague asked a beggar to do the role in exchange for a small fee. “We gave the beggar that swipe machine to shoot for the video,” she said.
Clearly, the video was shot way before there was any buzz about demonetisation but since Modi’s demonetisation announcement, it has gone viral.
“There is a video going viral on Whatsapp of a beggar being told by a man that though he wanted to help, he does not have change. The beggar asks him not to worry and takes out a swipe machine and asks for his debit card,” Modi had said at the rally adding that what he wants to convey is that “Indians do not waste time in accepting change”.
Listen to what Modi said during his speech:
