Onion at Rs 60-80 and tomato at Rs 70-80 and buying most of the vegetables not in kilos or half kilos but in quarter of a kilo is the “new normal”, the common man must get willy-nilly used to. The common man, more precisely common woman, must also get used to the promises every now and then by Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit or Union Food Minister KV Thomas or still the veteran politician and Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar – that a sharp correction in onion prices is a matter of days. The supply intervention is being done effectively, at least Thomas and Dikshit would say. Yes, before Deepavali for a couple of days, onion prices did correct from Rs 100-90 to Rs 60-70. That is about 30 per cent fall. Should the common woman not gives habashi to the Delhi Government and the Centre? After all, 30 per cent drop in prices is no mean achievement! Who says, prices are going up? Are they not coming down? See , how an effective Sheila Dikshit has reined in onion prices–what if for a few days, from Rs 100 a kilo to Rs 60-70 a kilo . Does someone remember that onion used to sell at Rs 15-20 a kilo and at times two and half kgs for Rs 20? Or, does it sound like a fairy tale? Leaving aside too many questions from the Government, the fact of the matter is that the UPA Government has completely given up , knowing fully well that there are too many vested interests entrenched, about which it can do precious little. So, be it Communication Minister Kapil Sibal, who , now and then , tries shooting troubles for the scam-ridden government here and there or Finance Minister P Chidambaram, who is more at ease reeling out the macro-economic data like current account deficit, fiscal deficit, FCNR Swap and other such stuff, common-woman cannot relate to. In sofar as the fruits and vegetables are concerned, it is a primary responsibility of the State governments, he argues. One wonders, what is the role of the Food and Consumer Affairs Ministry, which can neither manage food production and distribution nor protect consumers. The UPA makes tall claims about generating robust economic growth of eight per cent plus for most of the years, it has been in office excepting the last financial year and the year running now i.e., 2013-14. Nobody can deny the data, sure. Inflation at the retail level has been at 10 per cent for the last three years with no respite in sight either. What has been the tangible results for the average household even from growth? Have they got more employment? At least in cities, families after families, one finds this phenomenon among the middle class that those above 45-50 are the most vulnerable , particularly in the private sector, of being asked to leave without the so-called pink slips. They are , in fact, asked to leave without any slip. It is not easy to acquire fresh skill sets at that age and the kind of stigma that is attached to after being left redundant. On the other hand, the young educated youth, especially those from the general category, is frustrated about not getting jobs, despite spending lakhs on higher education, which has been made brazenly commercial. The small businesses – shops, factories, wholesale trading, are all under pressure. China is beating them hollow by dumping. Illustratively, most of idols of Lakshmi and Ganesha sold during Deepavali along with lightenings came from the factories of Chinese industrial towns which saw huge opportunities in 100 crore people celebrating festival of light and spending small or big at the cost of Indian businesses. The economic model, chosen and followed by the UPA Government has given us the collaterals of new normal inflation at the retail level, which in turn, is now choking the growth and in turn employment. After all, as they say, an average Indian has patience and suffers in silence, but it would be a mistake to think so any more. The signs of anger are there – but it is rather too late in the day to read the public anger because what could be done in a matter of few months ahead of elections, after all? Even if some results are visible before elections, there is a question mark on the credibility of the establishment.
Posted on: Wed, 20 Nov 2013 10:46:22 +0000