This refers to the article "The strange case for India's macroeconomic exceptionalism" by Shankar Sharma and Devina Mehra (April 3). The writers may be factually correct in projecting an optimistic view of India's macroeconomic situation. However, they miss the even more "macro" picture that is affecting the common people. For achieving its short-term electoral gains using subsidies, the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) has given up on fiscal prudence. Foreign investors are running away and Indian businesses never had so much to complain about. Retrospective taxes, dwindling manufacturing and exports, brazen corruption, non-definitive environmental clearances, opaque allocation of natural resources, unfriendly labour laws, jobless growth - these are just some of the problems. Bad economics doesn't discriminate in its ill-effects and only the very gullible will be taken in by the writers' international comparisons and persuasive numbers. We are reminded of the adage "lies, damned lies, and statistics" when someone uses numbers to prove that the UPA has achieved a lot.
Manas Sahu New Delhi
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