HIMANSHU SHEKHAR | हिमांशु शेखर

A number of economists and those persons who understand the economy and policies are taking about the third depression. And the most important thing is, recent G-20 meet decisions also indicate towards this coming disaster. Recessions are common in an economy but depressions are rare. We have faced the recession of 2008-09. The coming depression will be third one after the depressions of 1873 and 1929-31.

The matter of severe concern is the lobbying by corporate and politicians in favour of Mahindra. He was working on the board of Union Carbide as an independent director. Some corporate leaders like Deepak Parekh, Chairman of HDFC, are batting openly for Mahindra. These leaders are saying if any independent director like Mahindra will be held responsible for the corporate negligence, then it will be very difficult for companies to find independent directors for board. Isn’t it a childish argument by these so called icons of corporate world?

The oil companies will get maximum benefit from recent hike in fuel prices. According to an estimate, if a consumer spends one rupee on petrol in Delhi, the oil refining and marketing companies will earn 55 paise, The Central government will earn 29 paise and remaining 16 paise will go to state government exchequer. In the case of Diesel, out of every rupee spent by the consumer in Delhi, the oil refining and marketing companies will earn 72 paise, 12 paise will go to the centre and the balance 16 paise will go to the state. This is what government has done in the name of deregulating fuel prices.

Even after spending around Rs. 29,000 Crore and almost 49 years on Sardar Sarovar Project (SSP) of Gujrat, only 29 percent of canal network has been completed. The implementation of the project is progressing with very slow pace of 3 percent per year. A recent report of People’s Inquiry Committee captioned ‘Narmada Project: A Monument of Mis-management’ exhibits this alarming picture.

The world population is growing rapidly but the same is not true with the global food production. According to a recent report of OECD FAO, the global agriculture output is likely to grow more slowly over the next decade than in the past 10 years. But, nevertheless it remains on track with previous estimates to meet the demand, which is likely to grow by 70 percent by 2050. The rise in demand and slow growth in production would result in price rise.

Railway Minister Mamta Banerjee was presenting Rail Budget in Parliament but she was eyeing Writer’s Building of Kolkata. Mamta Banerjee has announced to develop 94 Adarsh stations across the country. Out of these, 28 are in Bengal. On the other hand she has announced to develop 22 stations of Bengal to multi-functional complex. Minister of Railway announced 16 Bharat Tirth trains in her Budget speech. Out of these five will start from Howrah. She has announced 10 new Duronto trains and Bengal got three of these. Bengal has got 17 of the 53 new express trains announced by Mamta in her Budget Speech.

साल भर पहले देश के इतिहास के बड़े कारपोरेट घोटालों में से एक सत्यम कांड उजागर हुआ था। इसके झटके से हर कोई हिल गया था। सत्यम घोटाले जब सामने आया तो उसके कुछ दिनों बाद तो सरकारी स्तर पर तमाम तरह की बयानबाजी हुई कि उन सारी गड़बड़ियों को दूर कर लिया जाएगा जिस वजह से इतना बड़ा घोटाला संभव हो पाया। पर साल भर बाद भी वे मसले जहां के तहां उसी रूप में पड़े हुए हैं।

Mr. Prime Minister loves to sing the song of better GDP numbers. Manmohan Singh also speaks about booming share market. He projects these things as sign of development of India. But is it true? What about those, who are living in remote villages of country? What about farmers? They are still comitting suicide. It means the parameters of Mr. PM for development are not benefitting common man and farmers. But his government and party always talks about common man. It seems that government is playing for a privileged section of society and their policies are not addressing a larger section of society. So, it’s a kind of deception with common man.

The Mainstream media is drawing a rosy picture for 2010. Most of the newspapers and news channels are saying that this is the decade of India and 2010 is just a beginning of this great decade. But is it true? In fact it’s not true. People of news media are aware of this but they are drawing a rosy picture because the character of that capital, which is running most of the media houses, is forcing them to do so. Media is saying, recession is over and good days are coming.

आज से शुरू हो रहे दशक में तो वैसे भारत के सामने कई चुनौतियाँ हैं लेकिन अगर इस दशक में गैरबराबरी पर काबू पा लिया जाए तो कई समस्याओं का समाधान खुद-ब-खुद हो जाएगा। सही मायने में दशक की सबसे बड़ी चुनौती तो तेजी से बढती गैरबराबरी है। दुनिया की एक प्रमुख आर्थिक पत्रिका फोर्ब्स ने बीते दिनों भारत के सौ सबसे अमीर लोगों की सूची जारी की। इस सूची के मुताबिक भारत के सौ सबसे अमीर लोग 276 अरब डालर के मालिक हैं। यह देश के कुल जीडीपी का एक चैथाई है। सही मायने में देखा जाए तो ऐसा होना मौजूदा आर्थिक और राजनीतिक व्यवस्था की नाकामयाबी को ही दर्शाता है। क्योंकि इसमें अमीर की अमीरी और गरीबों की गरीबी बढ़ती ही जा रही है। पूरी आर्थिक सत्ता का कुछ हाथों में केंद्रित होते जाना एक खास तरह का असंतुलन पैदा कर रहा है।