Wednesday, September 16, 2009

The new found pastures of Austerity!!!!!!


The buzz word doing the rounds in the cauldrons of our country is not Ajmal Kasab or Rakhi Sawant or H1N1 but it is the new found phenomena of Austerity. The incumbent politicians are so hell bent in adopting this new phenomenon that it has left the entire nation in a state of bemusement. And what makes the entire soap even more interesting is the fact that, the opposition parties who can make a large hue and cry out of anything and nothing have kept mum so far. I am still waiting for a statement from any of the non incumbent ministers stating a hidden conspiracy and gimmick out of this austerity drive. And I am sure sooner or later it is bound to come, what is going to be interesting to see will be the form in which it comes outJ. On a serious note, the initiative taken up by the current breed of ministers is worth lauding, unless and until we come to know about any intrinsic motto behind this. Never in my life have I seen any potbellied neta renouncing even an ounce of these luxuries for the sake of humility, leave apart the thought of saving nation’s wealth, rather they aim to suck it by all possible means, and make the most of this golden opportunity. One can feel that what was the point of asking the external affairs ministers, Mr Shashi Tharoor and Mr S M Krishna, to vacate those luxurious suits in the most expensive 5 star hotels of the country, when they were bearing the cost of that princely lifestyle on their own, but the message was loud and clear. If you are serving the nation, whose major chunk of population still lives below poverty line, where a huge mass has lost their jobs in the past 12 months, courtesy global meltdown, where around half of the nation is struggling with a drought like scenario and a quarter of it battling against massive floods, you ought to take some responsibility, you ought to lead by example. It might have been a bit embarrassing for Mr Tharoor and Mr Krishna to handle the situation, even though they were splurging on from their own wallets, but the message being sent by the likes of Mr. Pranab Mukherjee, Miss Mamta Banerjee and Mrs. Sonia Gandhi by adopting the economic means rather than the business or executives ones while traveling is honestly worth applauding. What is even more refreshing and makes us believe that all this is genuine is the fact that general elections are four and half years away, so this is most definitely not a political gimmick at this point. But these new good boys/girls of Indian politics who seem to have undergone an extensive rehab program should keep this in mind that they shouldn’t over do it, as it happened with Rahul Gandhi’s austerity train drive to Ludhiana, he sent a very good message by that gesture of his, but that was at the expense of the comfort of the common man who was also traveling in that train. Most of them complained that they felt so crippled by the extensively tight security in the train that they will never ever travel in the same train in which any of the austerity driven minister is traveling( so will they take the air route???? the executive oneJwish they could have). On a serious note the political circle should keep a check on this, not only keeping in mind the comfort of the common man but also for the sake of their own security, because these drives give ample and easy opportunity to the miscreants to harm these high profile men so very easily, which neither they themselves can afford nor can our nation. So there has to be a fine balance while exercising this revolutionary practice. But as long as they don’t bring this issue up 4 years down the line in their election campaign by statistically demeaning the opposition by begging for votes on the account of opposition’s extravagant expenses in their tenure compared to the incumbent minister’s frugal expenses while being in office, it is most definitely a JOB WELL DONE! And we all should feel good and proud about this noble initiative.

--
kin...

5 comments:

  1. I think it is the start of a good initiative taken by these men. But outcome of this initiative will depend on what is the motive behind this, whether it is just to uplift their image or they actually save substantial amount by this. If they reduce their travelling costs sustantially then sardar is gonna be back for a third term. Because the travelling expenses of these netas at the moment are way beyond they should actually be. Even some crap people who don't do any work in the cabinet travel by choppers... What for man?
    This Step should reflect in the balance sheet of the current government. In their five years term even if they bring down these expenses by 20% in comparison to their last term, I will stand and applaud, and will go and voye for this Sardar again.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Point 1 - other parties are not commenting on this austerity drive because of their own more contagious issues .... BJP is currently involved in cleaning up their own mess whether it is in Rajesthan or Jaswant's Book. Other wise I am preety sure they would not have let this oppurtunity go by with out making some nasty comment either on rahul gandhi or anybody else...

    Point 2 - I was watching this news report where it said that when soniya gandhi travels in Business class ... 4 gaurds are with her ... but in economy class .. there were 15 .. so it almost becomes equal in terms money spent.

    point 3 - These high profile ministers should take in consideration that there are common people travling in trains and economy class... and there austerity drive should not hamper the facilities provided to mango people...

    point 4 - For me , its more important to see the end result of this austerity drive.. its just the begining.. the govt should say at the end of every quarter or say yearly basis give an estimate that so and so much of money is saved from their initiative and where they have spent it in a right direction like education or development. if the saved money is going in Swiss banks than whats the point.

    - Thanks for writing such a good article ! :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. good thought to be put up on the blog...

    but the question is: what is the motive behind this move??

    highly unlikely that suddenly their "zameer jaag utha" and they started follwoing the less traversed path...

    my opinion is that this is again for garnering attention and to improve the image...

    and if this is nt so....good that they are thinking...atlaest its a good shift and the road nt so much travelled will prove to be good for the common man and for the country

    ReplyDelete
  4. I really like when people are expressing their opinion and thought. So I like the way you are writing

    ReplyDelete
  5. I didn't understand the concluding part of your article, could you please explain it more?

    ReplyDelete