While Sanjay Jha attempted a faux pas behind a veil of well-articulated English, Arnab Goswami
(Times Now news anchor) had only one question for him, which he asked over and
over again – “What can you buy for five rupees?”
A bit of background, for those of you that remain blissfully
oblivious to the affairs of the proletariat. The current poverty line in urban
India – as set by the government – is ₹33 per head per day. Mortified that the
government thinks that US$0.50 is enough for a person to survive, the outraged
public BJP has voiced its concerns, suggesting that the figure is
ridiculously low in an age where apples cost ₹180 a kilogram. In what can only
be described, I think, as a feeble attempt at a humorous retort, Congress
member Raj Babbar claimed that it was possible to have a nutritious meal for
₹12.
Ignore, for a second, that said comment was callous,
offensive, misinformed and highly condemnable. Just think for a second. What
can you actually buy for ₹5? Five strips of Boomer chewing gum? One egg? A
pencil? A ruler? A glass of water? Lok Sabha seat? Whatever it may be, I
highly doubt it is remotely as nutritious as the traditional Indian meal –
rotis, dal, rice and some vegetable. Some of you may be exploding in your seats
at this juncture, romanticising about the wonderful meal you had for ₹8 on the
roadside once upon a long time ago. I would just like to remind you all of the
baritone rumble of your digestive system two hours after your meal. Also, while
you’re at it, try remembering the next morning which you must have spent
entirely in the bathroom.
Last year, I wrote an article about the EU’s Common
Fisheries Policy (CFP), an initiative which failed spectacularly owing to an
appalling lack of foresight. To summarise the policy, the EU allocated strict
quotas of fish to each country, and the obligation to adhere to these quotas meant that
fishermen threw away tonnes of fish simply because they weren’t supposed to
catch that kind of fish. Like the CFP, the current fiasco is just another
example of the red tape that has the lives of the starving all tied up. In his
famous 1984, George Orwell speaks of
the Party’s deceptive propaganda by using an example of boots. The protagonist
Winston Smith remarks that on paper, astronomical numbers of boots were being
produced annually, while on the other had half the population went barefoot.
The boardroom politics that govern this sort of thing are a cause for major
concern.
The counter-argument offered by the Congress is that they
have lifted millions of people out of poverty since they came to power back in
2004. Of course, if you set the poverty line so ridiculously low, people are
lifted out of poverty almost instantly. But I don’t think that’s the main
problem here. The problem here is that I highly doubt that the BJP – or any
other one of India’s 40+ regional parties – cares what the poverty line
actually is: ₹3, ₹34 or ₹340. All they want is a reason to make some noise and
blame the Congress for everything that’s wrong with the country. Very likely,
if this benevolent BJP came to power next year, their generosity might just
manifest itself in a revised poverty line of ₹33.50. Still better than the
Congress, right?
- Chap
(I may have said this before, but just to remind you, this blog is not reputed for its factual accuracy)
- Chap
(I may have said this before, but just to remind you, this blog is not reputed for its factual accuracy)
