Since the year 2000, India’s nominal GDP has grown almost six times over – from 18.5 lakh crores to 110 lakh crores. In 1999, we could boast only of 6 dollar-billionaires; in fifteen years their number has grown to scores. On the other side of the scale, if the statistics dished out by the government are any indication, the number of poor people has also come down from 43 percent to 19 percent during the period. Then why should our nation be poor still?
‘You people are no ordinary poor – you are richly poor!’ That was Kaga Bhushundi Ji.
‘Ram, Ram, Kaga Ji, but I don’t understand what you mean,’ I said.
‘To understand me, think of the tremendous brain and brawn power Bharat Varsha possesses. Consider the bounty Parmeshwar – the Supreme Master – has showered on this blessed land – fertile farms, minerals and other resources. Are not you rich? Then ponder how you still manage to be better off than most of the world’s countries, even though vast amounts keep disappearing day after day from your kosha – coffers – like water from a leaking vessel. You know, more than 91 crore crores of free India’s money has vanished in bribes and scams alone. Money that would have made every living man, woman and child on this planet a crorepati one-and-a-quarter times over. You call yourself poor?’
‘I am amazed at your insensitivity, Kaga Ji. You peck at the most obvious and ignore the rest. The rich may be getting richer, but the poor and the not so poor are gasping under the squeeze. Real wages have declined, as has the purchasing power of the wage-earners. See the plight of nearly a quarter-billion Indians who have nothing more to subsist on than their will to live. To them, food security is a meaningless mumbo-jumbo; and essentials like shelter, clean water and health-care are fond dreams that remain unfulfilled.’
‘It is like what a Gora Sahib might have said, “God proposes, man disposes!”‘ Kaga Ji cawed.
‘The idiom, correctly said, all-knowing Kaga Ji, is “Man proposes, god disposes,”‘ I said with mock deference to the ever-lasting crow.
‘Now don’t teach me English, son, I am well past the learning stage. The god of wealth gives ample compensation for the labours people put in. But when it comes to sharing the rewards, the netas – men in power – corner overmuch for themselves and their cronies. And to see that they remain in power, they ensure that the bhadralok – what you would call the ‘middle class’ – too are able to mop up their share. That leaves the poor only with slim pickings. It would have been fine even at that. What galls me is that the tantra – system – allows the moneyed to appropriate for themselves what is meant for the moneyless. So, tell me, is it god or man himself who is responsible for the lingering poverty of India?’
KAGA BHUSHAUNDI SPEAKETH
Suman K Sharma
‘You accuse the rich of robbing the poor, Kaga Ji!’
‘Yes, I do, and with good reason. Take the subsidies meant to alleviate poverty. The amount required to remove poverty this year is 48 thousand crore, while your government is spending 300 lakh crore in subsidies. Where has 252 lakh crore gone? Surely, not to the needy and the deprived!’
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