This refers to T N Ninan’s article on market distortions and its calamitous impact. Only last week, I paid a Haryana cop Rs 500 to escape “a mobile use while driving challan”. I paid this sum without any bargaining, without demur and I do not grudge the cop his money. Living in the millennium city surrounded by obscene money in the name of property, Esops and high salaries, only the very principled would not be swayed by the need to keep up with the Joneses. And yet going by Ninan’s article, workers must draw lower minimum wages and live in slums. The same developers and private companies have not taken even a small step to compel the government to develop the environs in which they live. And it is not that they do not have the influence. They do not care. If MNREGA has led to loss of labour, how come the same voices never appealed for a better deal for these migrant workers as they stayed away from home? The market distortion in compensation in society has led to a situation in which every sector from defence to the judiciary to the bureaucracy to the police feels deprived and yet we are led to believe that a CEO of a top retail group has the competencies to get a Rs 50 crore joining bonus, while his front-end staff must be satisfied with a Rs 5,000 salary to keep the India story going. Would Ninan agree to a policy that reduces this market distortion in compensation?
Hari Parmeshwar On email
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