Ahead of the 2014 Maharashtra elections and those in 10 other states, some issues continue to plague the Indian economy. Of them, inflation remains the biggest concern. Basically, inflation is the increase in price of goods over the past. These goods are food items, luxury goods and anything which can be sold.
Ailing India
Inflation is measured through 2 indices – Wholesale Price Index (WPI) and Consumer Price Index (CPI). As the terms suggest, WPI measures the increase of wholesale prices, while CPI measures how much increase in prices impact common man. The government declares inflation in terms of WPI, but it is CPI which impacts common man more.
Since the past 5 years, prices of primary foods i.e. foods which are consumed daily by people have increased almost 200%. Onions, tomatoes, chillies, sugar and other food prices have more than doubled, causing pain to common man. It has hurt daily wage workers more, who rely on onions for their daily diet of zunka bhakar. Fruits and dairy products have not been spared either, with prices rising so quickly that it’s only the rich who can afford them regularly.
The National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) has caused the cost of labour for agriculture to increase. Still, there hasn’t been a drastic depletion in the output of food grains despite the declared draught in the past 2 years. However, there has been a shortage of food in the market, leading to price rise. Most people in India are now of the opinion that this shortage is artificially induced due to hoarding. This occurs when the middlemen (read wholesalers) deliberately store food grains and prevent them from being sold in the market. The scarcity leads to increase in price which invariably translates into more profit for the middlemen. These middlemen have large cartels which are in good standings with major politicians, meaning they get away with such illegal activities and make money at the expense of common and poor man.
Young politicians of India have to step in to take action. They have to fix these problems of artificially induced shortages and draughts at the root. This means improving irrigation channels for agriculture and eliminating middlemen from trade. Irrigation channels are in pitiable condition, ignored since decades by the government. Millions of litres of rainwater each year get wasted because of lack of infrastructure to harvest them. If irrigation technology is improved, India will not have to suffer from water shortage in fields. Also, it is no secret middlemen have had a long standing relationship with senior politicians. Young politicians have to implement policies which remove middlemen from the picture and allow farmers directly to deal with retailers. This will ensure farmers get fairly paid for their yield and common man gets food for right prices. Lower economic classes will be able to afford food more often and the nutrition index of India will improve.
India is at an important junction right now. From here, the country can either become a force to reckon with, or fade away into oblivion like many other countries which promised much more. The torch of development and progress has to be taken up by young Indian politicians who place the country before themselves. A population of more than 120 crore people depends upon them.
Young Political Leaders 