Economics of Convenience

Economic reforms a term once considered a game changer for the country is now reduced to a rhetoric, used by all the political parties for there advantage, to win the educated middle-class electorate and then to disown it, during the tenure of the Non Gandhi congress prime minister P.V Narasimha Rao, India transformed it self by breaking the bondages of the license Raj, led by the legendary finance minister Manmohan Singh, India opened its doors to the world.

With the demographic advantage, a large English speaking intelligent population, India started evolving as the software and BPO HUB for the world, but the real differentiator was the youth of the country, ambitious and sharp, they quickly covered the technological gap of decades in a couple of years and started leading in the software space.

But this remained an isolated bright spot in the otherwise measurable economic track record of the country, the political class of the country which never had any ambition to really transform the country, to utilise its wast natural and human resources, they seriously lack strategic thinking.

In India economic policies are made to appease the electorate, the legendary election slogan given by the candidate Modi which was “Achhe Din Ayenge” or great time to come, is a spectacular example of the hypocrisy as the economy is in a tailspin since Modi became the PM.

I recently read an article in Bloomberg titled “Pakora or Toyota” which clearly depicts the psych of the Indian policy makers, the cars are taxed @ 50%, equivalent to tobacco and alcohol, in the last one week Toyota announced halt in Indian investment and Harley Davidson decided to wind up.

Why dose the policy makers make such illogical policies in the first place? well the answer lies in the Voting pattern, about 40% of the total electorate always give the elections a miss, the rest 60% are the poorest of the poor, illetrate and some section of the middle class populations, 90% of the voters decide there votes on the basis of Cast, religion and freebies they will get if they vote for a particular party.

If you follow the election manifesto of the political parties, none would give structural reforms (again a cliche’) any space in it, they will throw a buffet of freebies, including Free 2 Wheelers, Free Laptops, One of the national parties announced that if they won the elections, they will give every unemployed men and women Rs.7000 (10$) a month, now preposterous as it was, thankfully voters were matured enough to call the bluff and the economy was saved.

One thing that I know for sure is the fact that Indians are very enterprising and the 2.5 trillion economy was built not because of the leaders but despite them. The current state of politics which takes from the competent, hard working and aspirational gives to the incompetent and callous, is not sustainable.

But aren’t the aspirational middle class also equally guilty for the currant state of the politics as they just don’t vote and leave there future in the hands of the goons (As many as 50% of legislatures or the member of parliament have serious criminal cases pending against them).

We often call politics a gutter or a Sewage, but even a garden of Roses, if neglected will turn into a barren and futile piece of land, just imagine what’s at stake if we choose to ignore our country and keep handing it over to the criminals and corrupt.

 

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The Disrupter

No one in the history of Free India has disrupted the lives of the billion people so much as the common man Modi has, and I really mean disrupted, Demonetisation ! Ill prepared and poorly executed GST which became existential threat for the small traders who didn’t understood this complex tax regime, and when we thought the worst is over and may be he will now focus on the economy came the near death Blow to the economy “The Lockdown”.

Modi has proved to be a leader who thinks from his guts, who doesn’t think or consults before arriving at a decision, without contemplating about the repercussion on the poor and the entire population of the country. As a common man I am deeply disappointed with what he has done, and as a matter of fact the way he has led the country, is absolutely bewildering.

On the front of corruption again, one of The agendas that won Modi both the terms, for me he scored a big fat disappointing 0, absolutely no delivery, for example the Poster boy of debauchery, Flamboyance and corruption Mr.Vijay Mallaya, he would appear in the prime time News shows whenever there are elections in country or in any important state, and would conspicuously disappear once the elections are over.

In these 7 years I have never seen any BJP leader getting convected or even being investigated by any central agency for corruption, I believe the organised corruption in the country has increased exponentially under his watch.

The country is silent and so is the opposition, media my God! is reduced to a circus busy in capturing the mysterious death of the Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput, try watching Arnab Goswami on the Republic channel, its such a sad state of affairs almost unfortunate that no one is speaking out when we have lost jobs in crores, our economy is in tatters, and the poor are getting poorer, something is very wrong about the current scene of politics, it seems as if there is no opposition left in the country.

Media the fourth pillar of the democracy, is busy diverting the attention of the people away from the real issues, I never saw this happening ever before, media’s job is to questing the government, but instead they are making all the efforts in keeping the people distracted from the real issues.

The disruption is so widespread that I see my country coming at a tipping point, a point of no return and what amuses me that the common man still feel that the current leadership in taking the country in the right direction, its almost as if we are living in a Dystopian society and every one is trying to put the current mess under the carpet!

No one in India doubts Modi’s intentions but the forget the old saying that the Road to hell is paved with good intentions.