When Prime Minister Narendra Modi began his first ever televised address to the nation at 8 pm on Tuesday, there was a great deal of curiosity among the people. Just when he announced the ban on the Rs.500 and Rs.1000 currency notes, India was taken aback by surprise. A whole lot of secrecy was maintained to not let the news out before the PM's address to the nation.

The ministers who attended the Cabinet meeting on Tuesday evening had to stay back till PM Narendra Modi's televised address to the nation was over, in order to ensure that there was no premature leak, even by a few minutes, of the plan to scrap Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes. Just a handful of people were not surprised by this move. As part of a group of advisors, they had spent six months carefully planning the biggest attempt ever in India to check black money.

Only Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, the Reserve Bank of India Governor and a few close officials were in the know until the very last minute, according to newspaper reports. It's worth mentioning that only a few weeks ago, the cabinet secretariat had issued a circular, to personal staff of all ministers, advising ministersnot to carry mobile phones to the Cabinet meeting . "So, there was no scope of the information going out," said a source.