GDP growth shows economy tiring out; Mikhail Gorbachev passes away; Growing social apathy
Opinion Watch
Low base effect produces mirage in economy, and first quarter gross domestic product growth for current fiscal at 13.5 per cent failed to meet even the expectations of the Reserve Bank of India of 16.2 per cent.
Economists were expected Q1 2022-23 GDP growth in the range of 15-18 per cent. The actual growth was well below, while this is the last quarter to take benefit from low base on account of lockdowns imposed in the wake of Covid-19 outbreak.
The GDP growth from now onwards will take deep dive, to go to 4 per cent levels in a few months.
The Times of India in its Edit has noted – April-June GDP at Rs 36.85 lakh crore along with private consumption and investment are above pre-pandemic level; contact-intensive sectors such as trade, hotel and transport are below pandemic level at 16 per cent against 20 per cent in Q1 2019. Urban unemployment rate at 7.6 per cent in April-June Quarter is way high, added the daily.
The Economic Times noted that agriculture growing at twice faster speed is silver lining, warning that high interest rate along with fiscal squeeze will be the challenges.
Economy in fact isn’t expanding for the fact that neither the private nor public investments are picking up, while corporate remains busy in declaring record profits by cutting down expenditure.
Mikhail Gorbachev passes away
Mikhail Gorbachev was a true leader who bet on hope and change unlike the current breed who are status quoist, stingy, miser, and lacking in human values.
The Indian Express has called Gorbachev a tragic hero. It stated that disintegration of the Soviet Union was an unintended consequences of Gorbachev’s pursuits for perestroika and glasnost.
Hailed as peace icon by the West but slammed at home for economic ruins, Gorbachev’s experiments failed, but his shadow was felt in the collapse of the Berlin Wall, ending the Afghanistan war, end of the Cold War, global focus on denuclearization and so on.
He indeed failed at home, because Russia like China has been herded to live at sub-human levels by their authoritarian rulers for several decades, and forces to derail perestroika and glasnost were more powerful.
Growing social apathy
Viral videos and crime data show that India society could easily earn the tags of being amoral, violent, apathetic, self-centered, greedy, corrupt and so on.
Descriptions may sound harsh, and they may be rejected on the ground that a few instances cannot be generalized.
But what were the neighbours doing when Shahrukh walked into the house of Ankita Singh in Dumka to set her on fire with petrol.
What were the neighbours doing when Seema Patra, wife of a retired IAS officer, broke teeth of her tribal domestic help, made her lick urine, and how come such people find space in Bharatiya Janata Party?
How is that a thug abuses a woman in Noida and Tyagi community comes calling with Mahapanchayat in Noida?
And, how is it that a woman lawyer abuses a security guard, with expletives against people of Bihar?
A businessman in Gurgaon assaulted the security guards just because he was stuck in a lift for a few minutes.
The Pioneer in its Edit asked all these questions, lamenting the lapses of moral values in the society.
Society collectively finds in the abyss of moral bankruptcy, while the shops of Babas and Mullahs flourish in the country.
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