Euphoric Illusion

                              

Has the editorial policy of Indian newspapers changed overnight. From a pessimistic cast, they have moved to an optimistic mould. They find good in everything. Economy is expcted to grow over 6 % next year and even peak at 7% or so by the end of the next year. Interest rate is likely to come down. Fiscal deficit  is likely to touch the lowest ebb. Inflation will be contained. Both wholesale and consumer index are going south, which will be an enabler for cutting the rate of interest by the RBI. Stock market is at an all time high etc. etc.

That evokes in me some kind of nostalgia. During the last NDA regime, some uncommon  terminologies have cropped up such as " India Shining", "Feel Good Factor" and now it is more Indianized "Acha Din" (Good Day). The well being of a nation is counted in terms of the state of living of the men who have the least income. What they can afford? Whether, they can buy the basic necessities with the money they have in their pocket? A visit to the market will give one more insights into the conditions there. Onions are priced close to Rs 20 ( for ordinary variety) for kilogram and for good variety, the prices still hover around Rs 35. For tomatoes, it could vary between Rs 25 to 40 depending on the variety. For the common man's subzi  -aloo- cost is  between Rs 25 to Rs 50 per kilogram, depending on the quality and from where one is buying. Is it heralding of Acha Din. We have to reckon that during this season last year, all these vegetables were sold at much a cheaper price. For instance, for Rs 15, one could get two kilograms of aloo and so on.

What made the journos change the track? If it is a break from the past and to shower some cheer into an otherwise morbid situation, it is okay. But that is not the dharma of the journalists. They have to place the facts before the public and for that they have to move from their seats. In stead of getting a quote from a well known economists or a political commentator, they should listen to a homemaker from a poorer set up to know how she is finding difficult to make both ends meet. Her husband who is working as a plumber, daily wager, loader etc may be earning a few hundred rupees whenever they get the work. It is absolutely dificlt for them to feed the family apart from educating their younger ones. On the top of it, there are the expenses towards medicine, transport etc, which make him or her broke in the first half of the month itself.

During the peak of wiki leaks, The Hindu newspaper serialized the exposes and some of them were realting to India. I distinctly remember that there was a dispatch sent from India by a US diplomat, which clearly tells that to create a public opinion in favor of any issue or against , it is prudent to invest in the growing tribe of economists in the country. They can calibrate their comments in whichever way that one wants.

The bottom line is that when the stock market zooms high, it is not acha din, when the estimates for growth is pegged up, it will not change the life of an ordinary citizen qualitatively. They  feel good only when things are good. They also know that illusions are man made to mislead people.

  Business Economics & Services Team

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Cabinet Expansion-Gainers vs Losers

                     

In any reshuffle of the ministry, there will be some who will cheer, some suffer heartburn (they are not losers in the real sense). some who despise their fate being unlucky and a whole lot of people who are indifferent. I belong to the last category. I am indifferent for I feel that it will not make any difference to my existence. That is ture for all those in the last category.

A lot has been written in the media about  the cabinet expansion. Media also gave their own rating, good, bad, ugly and so on. I remember that once a seasoned journalist told me that Indian public is very emotional, sensitive and more importantly, has a short memory. Journalists  take advantage of these attributes in one way or the other. They criticize a person to the hilt, bring all his negative side before the public glare and all on a sudden, when he or she makes a grade, media laps it up. There are people in the expanded ministry, who have been pulled up by media for his vituperative utterances which created a lot of commotion and finally accommodated in the ministry. The only reason that I can figure out is that the state he represents will be going to polls next year and he can be a potential vote catcher.

I often wonder why our ministers are allowed to babble everything when it comes election. Should we have a law  that prevents any individual who takes oath in the name of the constitution from taking partisan stand? During the time he or she holds the constitutional power, that person should be debarred from electoral politics.  This will mean that the prime ministers, chief ministers, other ministers in the Center and states should not go for election campaign, during the incumbency of his or her office. It is a different matter they go for the campaign when the elections are announced. Such a time span between the announcement of election and the time the elections get over,he or she at best will be a part of the caretaker government. That way, they will not be able to take any decisions in the intervening time. Undoubtedly, such a measure will shore up the credibility of the government and the public will repose faith in them.

 The newly expanded the ministry, according to media reports, is slim, mean, experienced, has set to the caste equations and so on. I really do not understand the nuances of these adjectives. But one thing is very clear, as it was the case earlier, each aspirant was planting the stories in media  in ones  favorite newspaper to enhance his or her chances. Some of them have succeeded in their effort and good luck to those who could not succeed for next time.

 Coming to the kick start of the economy. Now that the finance minister can focus only on his portfolio. He need not have to oversee the complex ministry of defense, where there are myriad of challenges and issues. If hands on experience  is the criteria, General VK Singh would have fit the bill as defense minister. But he seems to be sidelined to an innocuous ministry of program implementation and statistics and the earlier portfolio of DONER has been taken out of him. Does it have anything to do with his performance?   

Now the ministers  holding the economic portfolios are the finance minister Arun Jaitley , Commerce & Industry Minister Nirmala Sitaraman, Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu, Aviation Minister Gajapati Raju and others holding chemicals, fertilizers, power, portfolios etc. Can they put together their act well. Only time will tell that. But one can forewarn them that not many months they will have the luxury of a favorable media. They have to establish themselves through their hard work, integrity and peoples' connect. otherwise, there will be many like Gowda's, VK Singh's and Javedkar's in the next reshuffle.

Business Economics & Services Team (BEST)

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Politics on Prostitution-Let not the the Poor Suffer

                

  I was in a trepidation after deciding to write a blog on the raging debate in India about legalization on prostitution in India. My difficulty is to decide on which blog should I post the write up. Thanks to my friends, I have three blogs in a short time, one on Indian economy, two, on social issues and third on personal musings. With great mental debate, I decided to post the blog in the Indian economy, fully realizing that  prostitution is a human issue, though the business of prostitution can be categorized as an economic issue. I am not differentiating between the two. But my heart goes with  the unfortunate multitude of   women especially children, who are forced to prostitution by the accident of their birth.

Some years ago, I believe that in Economist, there was an incisive article which analyzed the entire gamut of business of prostitution and underscored the need for legalizing them. Should women be considered object of pleasure and enjoyment? Historians and sociologists may point out that the institution of prostitution is as old as mankind. They may have their reasons to categorize them as a part of societal life. Some of them argue that but for those who are practicing this profession, rape incidences  would have gone up , family lives would have become vitiated  and so on. That is why epics across the millennium  talk about prostitution. References of prostitution is there in Bible, Sumerian epics, Greek mythologies, and our epics like Mahabharata and Ramayan.

I am not an anthropologist. But I  believe that such credos are heavily tilted towards the victims who are practicing the trade. Once you consider prostitution as a part of business, what guarantee one is providing the practitioners  to pursue  trade. In India, it is reckoned that there are around 50 million sex workers. Most of them are victims of trafficking and hail from very poor regions and families. Most of them are sold at an young age by their parents to middlemen, who make a killing by selling them to Kothis in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata etc. A few of them land up in the confines of the rich people in villages and  double  as their maids concubines.

We have to be realistic while making an assessment. The average working span  of a sex worker is only a few years. After that most of them are left high and dry. A sizable percentage of them are susceptible to  communicable diseases. With no one to look after them, they vanish into thin blue unknown and unheard. Leave aside the society, the government seems to be washing off their hand on the issue. No proper government scheme has come forth to protect the lot of the unfortunate people.

Recently,  the apex court of India has set up a panel to look into the legalization  legalizing  prostitution. The panelists seem to be sharply divided on the issue of amendment to the archaic Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act 1956 (ITPA). Everyone in the panel says that they have the best of interest of those who are trafficked. One set of panelists say that licensing prostitution will open up the floodgate of more people joining the ranks and middlemen taking advantage of the situation. The group which favors the licensing believe that the amendment to the law will break the nexus between Kothi wahllas ( euphemism for those who running prostitution) police and politicians and make the trade  less vulnerable to exploitation.

Importantly, on 8th November 2014, there is the crucial meeting of the panel to deliberate on the subject. I just have to remind the learned panelists that by legalizing prostitution, you are not  closing the door for those who want to quit the profession to start anew in other areas. Rather, you will give them more confidence, money and security to opt for their profession and empower them to lead a decent life. Both licensing and empowerment should go together and not in isolation. Let not  intellectual expansionism and egotism block the future of   this unfortunate lots              

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