09-24-2012, 05:00 PM
At long last the notification regarding FDI has been issued by the Government of India. It is rather surprising that the forum members have remained silent for almost a week despite many important developments in the economic front.
The political fallout has been the departure of the TMC from the UPA. However, the expectation of the TMC that the Government led by UPA will fall has not happened. At last the Congress has shown the courage to stand up against the TMC and other small time political operators. The expectation is that the UPA will continue to have a comfortable majority in the Lok Sabha and will complete its full term. The main reason is that except for Mamta Banerjee no other leader wants to face the electorate at this point of time.
The economic package that has been introduced includes reduction in the cost of diesel and LPG Gas plus allowing FDI in retail sector. The opposition parties have pointed out that the increase in the price of fuel will cause more inflation and will cause more hardship to the general public, particularly the weaker section of the society. They are not realizing that the huge subsidy that is being given to the oil companies is causing huge deficit to the earnings of the Government. As a result of this subsidy, there is shortage of funds for the development of the infrastructure.
In the short run, no doubt there will be hardship amongst the people, yet with more foreign investments the economic growth will invariably get accelerated. It will create many more employment opportunities for the people. However, it will also bring a sea change in the structure of the vote bank of various political parties. With the opening up of FDI in retail sale, the middleman will go. So many of the political parties who get a major part of their funds from these people will have to find out new clients. Naturally, many of the political parties are critical of the measures being taken to give a boost to the economy. The poor response to the India Bundh is a clear indication that the general public does understand the need for these new measures.
The political fallout has been the departure of the TMC from the UPA. However, the expectation of the TMC that the Government led by UPA will fall has not happened. At last the Congress has shown the courage to stand up against the TMC and other small time political operators. The expectation is that the UPA will continue to have a comfortable majority in the Lok Sabha and will complete its full term. The main reason is that except for Mamta Banerjee no other leader wants to face the electorate at this point of time.
The economic package that has been introduced includes reduction in the cost of diesel and LPG Gas plus allowing FDI in retail sector. The opposition parties have pointed out that the increase in the price of fuel will cause more inflation and will cause more hardship to the general public, particularly the weaker section of the society. They are not realizing that the huge subsidy that is being given to the oil companies is causing huge deficit to the earnings of the Government. As a result of this subsidy, there is shortage of funds for the development of the infrastructure.
In the short run, no doubt there will be hardship amongst the people, yet with more foreign investments the economic growth will invariably get accelerated. It will create many more employment opportunities for the people. However, it will also bring a sea change in the structure of the vote bank of various political parties. With the opening up of FDI in retail sale, the middleman will go. So many of the political parties who get a major part of their funds from these people will have to find out new clients. Naturally, many of the political parties are critical of the measures being taken to give a boost to the economy. The poor response to the India Bundh is a clear indication that the general public does understand the need for these new measures.