New Delhi, Mar 23 (UNI) Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today staunchly defended demonetisation saying the 'shock was necessary to the system.' Replying to the debate on the Union Budget for 2017-18 in the Rajya Sabha, contrary to the warnings of the Opposition on demonetisation, he said the people's mandate in the recent Assembly elections and the many benefits of digital banking could not be overlooked. "We have become a largely tax non-compliant society. If tax compliance was proper, imagine how much tax would be collected. We must ask ourselves if cash is a facilitator of crime, and if it is, must we keep adding to that component, particularly when there are alternate means available," Mr Jaitley said. Prime Minister Narendra Modi was present in the House during the Minister's reply. One of the attempts of his Government was to widen the tax base, he said pointing out that out of 76-lakh tax payers having a salary exceeding Rs five-lakh, as many as 66-lakh were salaried people leaving many out of the tax net. More UNI SD AE SNU 1552