Political Diary
New Delhi, 6 March 2010
Potato Rs.30/-, Sugar, Rs.53/- Daal
Rs.100/-
AAMDANI ATHANNI, KHARCHA RUPAIYA…..
By Poonam I Kaushish
Aamdani athanni, kharchaa ruaiya…baaki jo bachaa who mahengai maar
gayee! This, my
dear readers sums up the tragic reality of the aam aadmi under UPA II. Crippled by soaring prices, still higher
inflation and rocketing oil. Forget eradicating garibi and chua-chut,
providing equal opportunity to all et al,
there is no sight even of the much promised roti,
cheeni, chawal and dal. Our netagan’s
remedy? Consume less sugar it leads to diabetes. Bluntly, stop whining and
swallow the bitter pill. Mera Bharat
is indeed Mahan!
Making plain once again that
politics is like an onion. Wherein after peeling layer after layer one is left
with nothing at the end. This was the sum total of the eagerly awaited debate
on price rise and fuel hike in both Houses of Parliament last week. Like all
debates it transcended into a tu-tu-mein-mein
between the Opposition and Treasury benches. The BJP accused the Congress of
four ghotalas in sugar, wheat, rice
and pulses as the raison d atre’ for
mouning prices and the Congress retaliated by finger-pointing of the many scams
during the NDA rule. Sic.
Noting that his Government has been
concerned over high food prices over the last one year, Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh and his Finance Minister cooed, don’t worry and lose sleep, we too are
equally concerned over the "behaviour of food prices" over the last
one year. “All practical measures” would be taken to provide relief given that
food inflation has touched a decade high of 17-19% in the recent weeks.
Really, how? Will ending the
financial year with GDP growth of 7.2-7.5% and achieving 8% in 2010-11
alleviate the misery of the aam aadmi,
crippled by the onslaught of rising prices and sky-rocketing inflation?
Importantly, will it put an end to the miseries of 762.9 million people earning
less than Rs 20 a day who satiate their starving bellies by longing looking at
the neon signs of sumptuous pizzas and
burgers? Or for that matter, the 74 million ‘Nowhere Children” who are neither
enrolled in schools nor accounted in the labour force or the 44 million
children aged between 5-14 years engaged in economic activities and domestic
and non-remunerative work?
Also, do the PM’s practical measures
include putting a stop to the un-ending free lunches in Government? Of cost
over-runs, increased salaries for a highly bloated bureaucracy and ministerial
excess baggage Think. Over 70% of India’s oil consumption is by the
Central Government and its counterpart in the States. Ministers both at the
Centre and States get many cars allotted to them with unlimited petrol. An
example: A Central Minister used to drive to his residence every time he wanted
to go to the toilet as the washroom in his Ministry was not up to the standard!
The MPS and MLAs are not far behind.
They get various Public Sector Undertakings to assign cars to them. Not to
forget the babudam. The Joint
Secretary and above at the Centre are entitled to an official car round the
clock. Used to ferry their wives to her kitty party and shopping and drop-pick
up the children from school. Unlike in the past when even ICS Secretaries used
to drive to work in their personal cars and used official vehicles only for
office work. Before telling the consumer to curb oil consumption, the
Government should first strictly ration its own consumption.
Worse, the Central Government’s hare-brained
measures to curb inflation by shoring up supplies have come to naught as States
refused to lift the d 4 lakh tonnes of subsidized imported pulses and 10 lakh
tonnes of subsidized rice at Rs 10 per kg as they were economically unviable
--- the prices of grains and pulses to be lifted from four ports where they
landed from Myanmar and Australia were more than the prevailing market prices.
“In Assam and Bihar yellow
peas is selling at Rs 27 but would have cost upwards of Rs 40 under the
Centre’s scheme,” said an official of Assam’s civil supplies department.
Bringing to mind Betrand Russell.
Asked the philosopher-writer: If one man offers you democracy and another a bag
of grain, at what stage of starvation will you prefer the bag of grain. See how
our erudite Finance Minister is robbing Peter to pay Paul. By reducing the
income tax slabs he has increased the people’s spending power and
simultaneously increased the custom and excise duties on consumer goods.
Arguably, can poverty be fought with deficit financing? Can it be counted upon
to keep the total deficit in check? Or eradicated by increasing subsidies and
providing rural sops?
True, the Government has tried to
rationalize even the irrational. But its arguments do not ut much ice. Despite
the statistics, the neatly doctored figures of easy virtue, it reels off in
support. Interestingly, the shooting prices and fuel price hike is wholly
against the spirit of the Congress commitment, hamara haath aam aadmi ke saath.
Sadly, no one has bothered to study
the end result of the fuel hike. An
increase will not only make life difficult for the aam janata but also trigger
off a cost-push spiral. The price of coal, power and public works will also go
up. Common sense dictates that any attempt to control deficit financing through
increase in prices of essential commodities is at once dangerous and suicidal,
both economically and politically.
The price hike would also raise the
inflation rate. In real terms, this means that the purchasing power of the
rupee would decrease and the interest rate would have to be increased. This
would curb growth rate and lead to a fall in the demand for manufactured goods.
All the Government is doing is changing the gears of tokenism.
Needless to say the economic
policies of UPA II, far from being able to address the central problems of
inflation, agrarian crisis (agriculture production has dropped) and rising
unemployment are adding new ones for the Indian economy. Disillusionment and
discontent among the aam aadmi is
spiraling. Borne out by rising farmers suicides, despite doles by the Prime
Minister, chakka jams and bandhs. New Delhi came to a grinding halt when angry kisans blocked all main arterial roads
leading to Parliament House. What to speak of the much-touted National Rural
Employment Guarantee Scheme which is mired in corruption wherein the benefits
are not accruing to the end user.
The harsh truth is that sound
economics adds up to bad politics and deficit populism. Over the years, our netagan have turned this dictum on its
head and converted populist politics into economic nonsense. Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh’s Government is no different from that of its predecessors.
So where does the buck stop? At the neta’s doorstep. The time has come for
the Government to stop making a mickey of the aam aadmi. It is imperative that it needs to work on a war-footing
to arrest galloping inflation and hurtling prices.Time to draw a lakshman rekha on populist measures.They
need to beware: agar pyaz se aam aadmi ke
aankhon mein aansu aate gain, toh din dur nahin hain jab netaoan ke
chakchhakkey choot jay! ----- INFA
(Copyright, India
News and Feature Alliance)
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