The inflation rate has already crossed the 11.63% mark this day. This really pinches hard. Just today, I bought some vegetables and was wondering that money a couple of months ago would have bought me more. Even the FMCG eatables are costlier by means of lesser weights in the same packaging.
Everybody in the Parliament, Opposition & Left will be baying for P. Chidambaram’s blood but in my opinion it’s of no consequence.Why? Read on…
He can’t do much in this case, the growth that happened in the past four years was not due to him or his government even thought he may like to claim so. The growth was despite the government intervention in business, red tapism and the FM’s high taxation policies. The growth was mainly due to high global growth experienced in a lot of developed countries & developing countries including India, Vietnam and Latin America experienced the trickle down effect. The FM and PM didn’t do anything radical that would have stimulated growth majorly – no major policy intervention, no cutting down of red tape, single window clearances. Nothing was done by the incumbent government to stimulate growth.
Now that global inflation has come to roost, the FM likes to blame the global prices. But when the FM didn’t have any hand in the growth process how can he control inflation. In my opinion, someone who’s needs to be held majorly accountable is Agriculture Minister – Sharad Pawar. Farmers are dying in Anantpur and Vidarbha, our per capita output has fallen to the level of 1970’s and this minister is more interested in Cricket than Agriculture. He has never gone to Vidarbha even once but he has gone to Johannesburg during the T20 World Cup, he has watched IPL matches and recently went to London to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the ‘83 World Cup win. He in my opinion is more to be blamed for the current agricultural crisis. Of course, agreed that that inflation basket is comprised of many other items than food – steel, oil, cement, etc; in a country like India where 75-80% of the people earn below $2 a day, the food price inflation is what matters since people do not eat steel, oil & cement ( the FM was quick to call their manufacturers and call for price controls) and this boils my blood against the Agriculture Minister.
On a final note, I think with the amount of people in agriculture, if India takes proactive steps to improve farming and the agriculture sector, we can cool not only the domestic prices but also export them. We have a lot of capability but alas…
