India scraps 500 and 1000 rupee bank notes to tackle corruption – Twitter goes into a tizzy

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Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi stole America's (election) thunder today by scrapping 500 and 1,000 rupee bank notes.

Modi, who became Prime Minister in 2014, took the extreme step of scrapping the high denomination notes to tackle corruption in the country. 

"Black money and corruption are the biggest obstacles in eradicating poverty," he said.

"On one hand, we are number one in economic growth and on the other we are ranked 100 in global corruption rankings," he said. "Despite various steps, we have improved only to 76."

New 500 and 2,000 rupee denomination notes will be issued to replace the scrapped notes and banks have been told to exchange existing notes over the next 50 days.

Modi reassured Indians that they will not lose money as a result of his bold step.

"There is no need for panic. Your money will remain yours. You need not worry on this point," he said.

People flocked to jewellery shops last night to buy gold after news of the notes being scrapped broke.

​Meanwhile, Twitter went into a tizzy, thanks to the move – sample some of the funniest tweets about the move below:

​https://twitter.com/SahilBulla/status/796061187007856640

https://twitter.com/BhaagteRaho/status/796005154365448192