Government turning oblivious as economy gasps to stay green

The construction work around the country has either ground to a standstill or has slowed down painfully.

Most of what I write comes from my conversations with real people during the course of my work or otherwise.

The construction work around the country has either ground to a standstill or has slowed down painfully. Even persons, who are qualified as construction engineers and technicians, are unable to find jobs…what to talk of the labourers. They are migrating to Delhi from all over. A man who spoke to me had come from Bihar. “There is no work anywhere madam. I came to Delhi because it is the Capital, but here too, there is nothing for me. I am willing to put my degree away and do anything. Please help me if you can.”

A gigantic monolith of a company, Tata Motors, has had to scale back salaries. Word is going around that two very large Mumbai-based companies are in financial deep waters. If the Tata’s need to cut back—the news is terrible. Even commercial vehicles are selling in far fewer numbers.

The economy is struggling and gasping to stay in the green. And this is not mere hearsay—the newspapers are filled with graphs and data indicating the same.

The Diwali festive season, the biggest market bonanza in India, also went damp. The upside is that traffic is not that bad this year as many people are not going to the markets. Dhanteras, one of the biggest shopping festivals, has seen fewer takers and jewellers have reported a dip in the business.

The PAN card is the monitor this year. It is perfectly fine to check black money, but really Modiji, stop harassing the mid-income groups and check the spendings of the people you cohort with. Are all the rules only for the middle class?

My question is, will this government stop causing distractions to take away attention from what is actually happening? They stir up the communal cauldron and pull religious strings at will. Look at the Taj Mahal non-controversy.

The monument is our prized asset. It has been the subject of art, literature, and poetry down the ages. Heads of states ink in a visit to the Taj as a must do. It does not really matter if an inconsequential brochure written by the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh lists it or not. The entire world knows the Taj Mahal. But, removing it from a brochure definitely attracts attention. Those in power are relieved that for some time all the hounds are after this, temporarily forgetting the more serious issues at hand.

Sometimes the Taj is taken off the tourist brochures, sometimes roads and buildings are renamed with a never-before fervour, sometimes anti-Romeo squads are organised, and sometimes cow vigilantism becomes most important. The current government has no choice but to do all this nautanki. Because, where are the jobs the youths were promised? Where is the corruption-free government? Where are the untainted families of people in power? Where is the promised progress? No where. Nothing. Zilch. 

I was driving in Pune recently. Among the hundreds of billboards dotting the city, one thing was glaring—written in bold in most of them was ‘Not affected by GST’. What they were selling was in much smaller print!

Poor chaps have now positioned themselves in the market like this: “Buy a single carat ring. Prices ‘not affected by GST’.” So much for this new tax regime!

Modiji, how far back in time will you go before you will stop blaming everybody for all the problems? Problems that you say your party has been solving even before it came into existence? Will you go as far back as the Creation itself? And please, ask Madam Smriti Irani to stop jumping like a scalded cat every time Rahul Gandhi asks questions I have listed here. It’s unbecoming of a minister to be so defensive and over-sensitive.

Find the answers instead.

archanadalmia@gmail.com

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