MANMOHAN SINGH’S CONFESSIONS

Prime Minister ManMohan Singh has still many promises to keep. And he has many miles to go. Hence no stopping midway.
The good doctor is very much sure and confident that he has already done a lot to the good of the country. Otherwise what would have been our fate? Has anyone paused for a while and thought anything on these lines? If not pity him.
Under normal course, Prime Minister doesn’t address journalists. But circumstances forced him to invite visual media journalists, why no print media, for press conference at his 7 Race Course residence the other day.
Missiles of queries flown into his face but the gentle Doctor that he is found it quite difficult to answer each query.
The missiles of queries directed against him were something to do with an array of corruptions, scams and scandals tarnishing the image of the UPA II govt.
Forced into a tight corner our Prime Minister spoke about coalition dharma and as he was bound by it had to accommodate A.Raja into his cabinet. And he went on to inform the media that what was wrong on his part was that he believed A.Raja blindly and he went on to add that the ‘so-called’ loss of Rs 1.76 lakh crores was wrong. As an instance he pointed towards a fact that an expenditure of Rs 80000 crore towards subsidies to the food sector could be termed a loss to the exchequer.
The other thing that he chose to mention was that he was not afraid of a JPC (Joint Parliamentary Committee) probe as he had nothing to hide. But what actually forced his govt in the face of consistent demand of opposition to constitute a JPC was not listened to by the UPA II govt during the winter session lasting for 22 days was by an adamant government causing a loss of Rs 769 crores to the treasury.
With the opposition holding on to their demands to constitute the JPC, the govt has at last conceded to its demands and in the budget session the announcement of JPC is slated to be made. If Dr.ManMohan Singh had nothing to hide there was no need for rejecting the demands of the collective opposition. A Prime Minister appearing before the JPC committee won’t in any way diminish his status, rather it would only help to brighten his image.
The govt always has one thing to boast about and it is nothing other than the Gross National Product. Yes, the GNP of 8.6 percent in 2010-2011 is something to be proud about but what is shameful from the very beginning is the growth has not percolated down to the lower strata of the society. Amounts piling up in the hands of few should not be regarded as a criteria for development while several languish at the bottom. Equal distribution of public wealth to all, call it by any name, is most essential.
Nobel laureate Amartya Sen in one of his lengthy articles recently bared out with some glaring facts with statistical data the rate of growth in various fields in India, Bangladesh and China. His words I quote : “ GNP growth can, ofcourse, be very helpful in advancing living standards and in battling poverty (one would have to be quite foolish not to see that) but there is little case for confusing (1) the important role of economic growth as means for achieving good things and (2) growth of inanimate objects of convenience being taken to be an end in itself. India lags far behind Bangladesh and China and on going through that article as Indians we feel ashamed of ourselves. Merely boasting about the Gross National Product (GNP) growth alone should have to be put an end forthwith. Life expectancy at birth in China is 73.5 years; in India it is still 64.4 years. Infant mortality rate is 50 per thousand in India, compared with just 17 per thousand in China and the under five mortality rate is 66 for Indians and 19 for Chinese. China’s adult literacy is 94%, compared with India’s 65 % and mean years of schooling in India is 4.4 years compared with 7.5 years in China.
Life expectancy in Bangladesh is 66.9 years compared with India’s 64.4. The proportion of underweight children in Bangladesh (41.3 percent) is a little lower than in India (43.5 percent) and its fertility rate (2.3) is also lower than India’s (2.7). Mean years of schooling amount to 4.8 years in Bangladesh compared with India’s 4.4 years.”
Our rulers have miles to go and promises to keep for shining image on the world map.
In the Arab world where dictatorships are prevalent from Tunisia down other Arab countries unable to withstand hardships like poverty, corruption, unemployment and political reforms people have risen in revolt against the dictatorships for clearing ways for democracy. Their dreams of democracy have many things to do with their dreams of a day free from poverty, corruption, massive unemployment etc.
We are a democracy, still we suffer umpteen sufferings ranging from poverty to unemployment and under-development. If our rulers still hold on is only due to the prevalence of a democracy, the freedom of speech and expression, the freedom to hold protests, the freedom to mingle with each other etc etc. But what all are prevalent in Arab world, I mean, dictatorial regimes and what all prevalent here is the same except the fact we breath fresh air.