Dear Friends,
Here is a short essay by Pritish nandy, a very well respected journalist.
It is very alarming to read.
V. RAGHU
>> EXTRA ORDINARY ISSUE**
>> **
>> *Time to go, Sir *
>> ****
>> *Pritish Nandy ***
>> **
>> ** I don’t believe the PM is a corrupt man as Team Anna claims. But
>> like most Indians I think he is past his expiry date. His critics were
>> saying this. Now his defenders are saying the same thing. There’s nothing
>> more, it seems, he can contribute to our political discourse. It’s best
>> someone more capable steps in who can better handle the affairs of State
>> and
control quick-fingered ministers from dipping into public funds for
>> personal gain.
>>
>> Of all the people I know, Singh suffers the most from Wilful
>> Blindness. He sees what’s happening around him and yet he is detached,
>> pretends he knows nothing. Point out a wrongdoing to him and however bad it
>> may be for India, his first reaction is to look away. He is convinced that
>> what he does not see, does not exist. It can be crime or corruption,
>> injustice or human rights violation, he can will anything away just by
>> shutting his eyes.
>>
>> While this may be wonderful for his conscience, I am not sure it’s
>> good for India. As everyone knows, I am no admirer of the Opposition. If
>> it’s possible to find a more effete bunch of bickering idiots, you will
>> find them sitting on that
side. But I don’t grudge them that, as long as
>> they sit there and scream their lungs out. What we really need in these
>> difficult times are better people in Government to take India ahead.
>> Tinkering around with minor policy changes can achieve nothing. What we
>> need is more definitive action and zero tolerance towards crooks.
>>
>> To begin with, Singh believes (unlike earlier PMs) that his job is to
>> take only economic decisions. He sees himself as a Super Finance
>> Minister; that’s all. He is neither interested in Science nor Technology.
>> Arts and Culture do not exist for him. He has never involved himself in
>> Education or Medicare. Justice and Human Rights don’t matter to him. Nor do
>> issues of Environment or Public Health. He occasionally concerns himself
>> with Foreign Policy but only to the extent that
touches upon Trade and
>> Commerce. In short, none of the real issues matter to him. So people with
>> actual problems have stopped approaching him.
>>
>> The joke is that the one area where Singh is focused is where
>> everything’s going wrong. One stupid decision after another has killed the
>> economy. Reforms are stalled. Foreign investors have fled because of a
>> series of incredibly foolish steps taken within a short span that have
>> driven the rupee down from 44 to the dollar to 56. To get 11,000 crore
>> in taxes from Vodafone, a case which the tax guys lost in the Supreme
>> Court, the law was changed retrospectively and GAAR introduced. This has
>> cost us dearly. Today the Government is borrowing 15,000 crore every
>> week to meet expenditure. Cash strapped banks are borrowing 100,000
>> crore every day
from the RBI. 3,000 crore is what equity investors have
>> lost every day in the past six months. The economic costs are staggering
>> compared to the tax amount the Government is pursuing. Not only have
>> foreign investors fled, even Indian businessmen are relocating since no one
>> feels secure in an environment where the Government and its agencies can
>> harass anyone they want on the flimsiest grounds. By raping the rupee, they
>> have also destroyed our savings, reduced our wages, and raised inflation to
>> scary heights.
>>
>> And what is being done to correct this? Fuel prices are raised every
>> few months. There are talks about more taxes. We who were once claiming to
>> be a Super Power are on the verge of becoming Super Poor. But what’s worse
>> is the return of the Inspector Raj, harbinger of the dreaded Emergency.
The
>> officers who killed our economy have not been replaced. Instead, efforts
>> are being made to bludgeon public protest. By trying to control social
>> media and ban everything in sight, from cartoons in textbooks to films,
>> music, art, books, public performance, internet sites the Government is
>> damaging India’s credibility every day.
>>
>> Is this the legacy Manmohan Singh wants to leave behind? An economy in
>> coma, a harassed citizenry, the media under siege, our savings gone, and
>> India’s fabulous growth story now a distant memory.
>>
>> * (Views expressed by columnist in Baroda **Times are his own, and not
>> that of the paper.) *
>>
**
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
