In one of his older films, Shahahnshah, I think, Amitabh Bachchan utters a classic line: Confujun to hai utter . Look around you, and you will see why India can adopt this instead of Satyameva Jayate as its tag line. Thanks to non-governance for nearly a decade, no one, just absolutely no one, has any clue as to what is going on in the country.
Take the economy first. Is Inflation high? Yes. Should interest rates increase? Yes. Would that slow growth down? Yes. But does it? No, sir, it doesn't. Why? We don't know? Black money effect? We don't know. Does anyone know? No, sir
Or take agricultural growth. Is it a cause for concern? Don't be silly, of course it is. Then how come agricultural growth has been the healthiest at almost 4 per cent in several years? No one knows. Base effect? Maybe, maybe not, we don't know.
Consider the fiscal situation. Is it bad? The finance minister says no but everyone else says yes. The combined deficit of the centre and states will touch 10 per cent soon. True or false? No one knows for sure. Does it matter? No one knows for sure.
Infrastructure: Has it improved? No, yes, maybe, again no one knows. Monetary policy: Sensible, stupid, delivering results? No one knows. Exchange rate policy: Good, bad, idiotic? Depends on who you ask. Employment: Up, down, stagnant? No one knows. Why, the Planning Commission hasn't got the 11 th Plan out yet and it has been beavering away for four years now.
One can go on and on like this but the point should be clear: Even after allowing for the usual amount of nonsense in a democracy, India takes the cake when it comes to not having the foggiest about its whereabouts.
This wasn't always so. Even a decade ago, our GPS used to work fairly well. But now it seems to be totally kaput with the result that action
