Gasping price rise, state sponsored terrorism- a choice to make!

The food price index has soared to an unprecedented high of 18.38% in the recently concluded week. This is one of my favourite spaces, since it directly hurts my pocket. Never before in the history of Indian economy had we had an instance of three of world's best economic minds as Mr. Pranab Mukherjee, Dr. Manmohan Singh and Mr. P Chidambaram at the helm of politics and economics and yet such a soaring price rise of daily consumables, without an acceptable explanation. I do not know the nitty-gritty of economics,  micro or macro, and I do not need to know. What matters to me is that I have not got a pay hike, the public deposit instruments are offering me an interest rate of max of 8.5% and here I am fighting a price index of 18% and above, which means, in  near future if things don’t get back to normal immediately my actual earning would be in the negative.  These NSCs, PPFs, and other savings schemes, which give me 7.75%, 8.85% etc; as returns are actually not additions to my earning,  rather, they give negative returns when compared to the rate of inflation! The 'sarkari babus' do not feel the pinch because the central and state government raises the DA (Dearness Allowance) at a regular interval. But people like us, on private sector employment, and not working in the IT or ITEs sector, people who work in unorganized sector, the daily labours, wage earners, retired individuals whose income is solely dependant on bank interest ....can you find a way for them to survive in a world where onion is Rs. 65 / kg, and garlic Rs. 300/ kg, mustard oil Rs.76/kg? Even if you want to survive on a vegan diet you are not spared! Vegetables, milk, fruits everything has beaten previous inflation rates.  For the last two years we had seen situations where the inflation has gone to the negative, and yet, the prices have shown no signs of going down! I do not know what theory in economics could explain that, I am sure there is one, but my aware, conscious mind can find only one reason! Corruption! Had it not been the hoarders going rampant, there cannot be any explanation to this anarchy.

Manmohan Singh’s government wakes up from sleep intermittently. One fine morning Dr. Singh decides to call upon Mr. Sharad Pawar and ask why is the onion so costly. To which Mr. Pawar, who spends more time in Dubai at the ICC headquarters than this poor nation, declares that there has been a record shortage of onion production. Come on, now! My pet dog too has that much of knowledge having stayed so long in my company! The question is what makes the minister come up with this revelation after the shortage has actually impacted the market? Why did he have to wait for us to gasp for breath amidst this sky rocketing price? Where are the preventive measures? Why has the state machinery not taken any action to stop this or at least to mitigate this? What takes the government / IT department to crack down on the hoarders after three weeks of marauding price hike? Did they get their fat pay cheques three weeks later than when it was scheduled to be? No.  Then why is there such a delay? How can the government afford to sleep under their cozy blankets for so long? How can they be so unprepared at tackling this? Dr. Singh, Mr. Mukherjee and Mr. Chidambaram with Montek S Ahluwalia better go back to schools and give us a trustworthy story now! We are tired and indignant at their folly, rotten explanations and so called remedy!

Then there are the scams! They are not new to us. Born an Indian, you are bound to know about them now and then. In a way, they have become a part of our daily lives and conscience. Hence I did not read much of Suresh Kalmadi or Adarsh Housing initially. These news items die a speedy death after one week of coverage on the media. However, the recent spurt in the scams invoked my conscience and I thought it was a good idea to lend a piece of my mind through this very personal yet publicized space.

India has seen many such scams. From Bofors to Kargil Coffins, to Olympics to IPL to Aadarsh Avasan, to the crowing glory of scams - the 2G spectrum, you name it, they have it! Whichever party comes to rule these mammoth billion, they loot the government exchequer and thereby public money! Congress being at the helm of affairs for the longest time had had the maximum opportunity to do so! And they did not disappoint!

Ms. Mamata Banerjee , well known to call bandhs and disrupt public life at the slightest tickle, is so busy in garnering political support from the Central government that she has not raised any voice against this …….not a pronounced one! Call it her political maturity or opportunist politics, even though the state of West Bengal expected a robust protest from her on this, she chose to be different! How far and for how long can she pass the buck on the opposition? What has she done other than blocking the Metro channel and trying to gain political mileage out of dead bodies is a question that looms large in public mind.

On that note, the massacre at Netai village in Lalgarh, West Bengal on Saturday calls for some serious introspection on our part!

I do not go blind on the media stories and comment on them since they are all biased and coloured. However, when all the media report the same fact-irrespective of their political bias, I have reasons to believe them. I am aghast (I am looking for a better phrase!) to learn that a mass of villagers could be killed in such cold blooded manner just because they staged a mass protest against taking up arms training from the cadres? Is this what we call democracy? How could human life be so cheap? Reports tell us that the party cadres had made a list of people from each village and enforced them to do household chores at the CPM camps without a remuneration. And the villagers were ready to do so! Netai village is an agriculturally solvent one. People tolerated the party cadres' anarchy, exploitation to the farthest extent possible and went on toiling hard for the party 'netas'.  They relented only when they were forced to take up arms to prevent themselves from the Maoists.  They are agriculturists, who, the CPM cadres pressurized and tortured to learn arms handling! 

It was learnt that the police stopped coming to the village ever since the CPM cadres had set up camps there, and on the event of the massacre, the police did not come to rescue the villagers. No one picked up the phone at the police station,  the District Magistrate or none of his men were at their office during the incident. One can  imagine to what extent the ruling party has flexed their muscle, paralysed everything together in the system and made it completely defunct!

We are at the receiving end - the educated, aware people. We vote because we were told we should. Given the state of affairs, there is no way CPM can retain power nor should we vote for them. It is high time we correct our 34 years of mistakes and not vote for them. But then what is our alternative? Who do we vote for? The Trinamool? The Congress? Look at the central government, the series of scams, the price rise, the blunt infight within the party members,  and you know you have no option. No viable alternative!

Someone told me once – “Don’t give me problems. Give me problems only when you have solutions.”  I have none. I am seeking one through this post from all of you. May be you could throw some light on this.