Nirmala Sitharaman faults dollar; Unsafe nation for girls; Potholed National Highways
Opinion Watch
Nirmala Sitharaman faults dollar
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has been the subject of ridicule on the social media for two days for her remarks that it’s not rupee that has fallen but the bad boy in the class is dollar. Those who are not yet initiated in the Indian politics must know that Sitharaman’s sole talent and reason for her place in the Narendra Modi-led NDA Cabinet is her spokesperson’s qualifications.
The Pioneer in its Editorial has stated that the Finance Minister is adding to the injuries by claiming that dollar is strengthening, while stressing that the importers have been badly hit, psychology of people hurt, margins of manufacturers came under stress, while the Reserve Bank of India has burnt over $125 billion to save rupee from sinking to abyss.
Sitharaman was the student of late Arun Jaitely, who would often say that if you don’t have facts in favours you should shout and bang the desk, while recalling ways courtroom debates were held in his times. The Finance Minister is literally following her Guru. But she is erring on one count that the social media is not a place to peddle ‘half-baked’ narrative.
Dollar has indeed appreciated by about 20 per cent, and rupee has depreciated by 10 per cent. For this, the credit goes to Shaktikant Das, as he burnt dollar reserves to save India from harsh currency flight winter, and if he hadn’t done that inflation would have blown away from the roof. Additionally, rupee is under pressure because there is a flight of the capital, because the foreign investors aren’t going crazy about the Indian growth story anymore. Indian economy is now status quoist, and that doesn’t excite those who have bags full of dollars.
Unsafe nation for girls
We have been most dishonest to Nirbhaya. Girls are being killed across the country in more gruesome manner, and the onlookers watch their murders cowardly. One stalker can kill a girl in front of dozens of people is a baffling story of India, while the law enforcement agencies are in a state as is a Delhi Police person who cannot sprint to catch a thieve, for his belly is too big.
The Hindu in its Editorial has reminded the country that the nation has failed Nirbhaya, as the likes of Santhipriya of Chennai who was decapitated by her stalker who pushed her in front of a running train are now a new normal in the country. The daily reminded that Santhipriya’s killing by her stalker was similar to the incident in which Swathi, a young techie, was murdered in 2016, while in 2021, Swetha, a young college goer, was also murdered near a suburban train station.
The daily quoted the National Crime Records Bureau statistics to state that a whopping 4,28,278 lakh crimes against women took place in 2021. It appears as if girls in the country are at the mercy of the mentally deranged stalkers, and Parliament enacted all those ‘tough’ laws only to give the agitated people placebo.
Potholed National Highways
With Nitin Gadkari at the helm of the Ministry of Road and Surface Transport, roads are being at break-neck speed, but potholes are also emerging in equally ferocious speed on the newly built stretch, if they are not caving in after a good spell of rains.
The Times of India in its lead Editorial has called that building national highways seem to be priority, not their maintenance, while illustrating the Gurgaon-Jaipur stretch of NH-8. The daily stated that the budget allocation for the maintenance of highways is just four per cent of the overall budget, which NITI Aayog has called for an immediate scaling up to 10 per cent, while eventual 40-50 per cent should be aimed.
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Highly appreciate the points captured.
1) Rupees getting weaker and forex reserves falling day by day is a real concern no matter what our foreign minister says…do we have any fallback plan or suggestion as smart citizen of the country?
2) Safety of girls / women is a big concern for all in India ( although increase in violense against women is observed globally now).
There has been a twist in the mindset of stalkers / harrassers.
– For all this credit goes to society, our enhanced perverted thinking, contents on social media and continous degraded morale of bigger jobless frustrated men ( crowd).
3) We should have higher budget for maintenance of Roads /Highways but have many similar issues to be taken care …….