As the world reels under the financial crisis, the Indian government kept re-iterating that there is nothing to worry. The Prime Minister and the Finance Minister repeatedly said that the inherent strength of Indian economy will help the country sail over the tsunami and keep ourselves afloat. The debacle in the US, Europe and other countries around the world should have served as a loud warning for the prudent. But, in India, the measures were limited largely to rate cuts and pure rhetoric.
Meanwhile, the prices of essential commodities sky rocketed, the stock markets crashed and industries struggled to keep their factories running. Unlike China, which came out with a substantial investment package to boost the economy, India maintained what many describe as a largely passive stance to the entire issue. But, even with the inflation figures showing some signs of coming down, the stock markets kept plunging to new depths.
Guess what, the finance minister has told that people must stop looking at the stock markets closely as these were nothing more than indices. This is easily the most irresponsible and utterly damaging comment that a finance minister could make at such a volatile time. He may have been trying to calm down the atmosphere by playing down the significance of the stock markets. But in the process, he has completely forgotten that millions in this country have lost their life’s savings in the stock market over the recent months. Billions of dollars worth wealth have been wiped off and the Finance Minister has the audacity to refer to the debacle as if he is talking about a mathematical graph.
Well, with the general elections coming nearer, I guess the current UPA regime could afford to pass over the onus to the next government. But, in the process, we the people are bound to suffer, providing more data for the wise heads like this finance minister to study and lecture about....
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