General Elections are down the corner. Elections are the greatest exercises in a democracy by which the man gets to elect their leaders. In general terms, it is the power vested on an individual / citizen to throw out a ruler who had failed to deliver or who has proved to be inefficient. But these days it seems this message of the democracy has been lost between the masses and we seem to elect some or the other leader without taking into account their credentials or even if we are electing the right man for the job, in a way reposing our future for the next five in the hands of a leader who may not be deserving. It is always better to do an introspection before one casts one's vote.
One has to go beyond the confines of one's mindset that may be clouded by their personal or political affiliation and think about the person one is electing before one casts one's vote. remember every vote counts. With that in mind I am starting the series on what one has to think before deciding on one's vote. Now remember, there is no discrimination on political basis but simply the social audit of a citizen and a common man. I intend to cover almost all the major issues that one faces in one's day to day life.
ISSUE NO-1
The worst issue that we face today are price rise. The prices of essential commodities are rising day by day. In some respects some essential commodities are becoming prohibitively costly and beyond the reach of common man. The best example is the rise of petroleum products. The cost of petrol today stands at ₹76/ litre. That is one of the highest in the world. The price of diesel has also risen and now stands at ₹60/ litre. Now the government explains this to the sharp cut in the subsidy and the fluctuation in the international prices of crude oil. But how is that other countries has lower petroleum prices while in India, the prices are the highest in the world is yet to be explained by the central government. In the same way, the prices of gas cylinder has increased over the years and the government has been good enough to cut the subsidy on gas cylinder paying way for the sharp rise in the prices of cooking gas.
Now I m not an expert in the art of economics. But what frustrates me as a citizen is the way the central government had been going about doing these cats with scant regard for the welfare of the common man. For the last 10 years, there had been a severe rise in the costs of essential commodities. But the central government led by the UPA seems to be oblivious to the hardships faced by common man. The economy is also tumbling with GDP growth under 5% in the last so many years. Now I can understand the argument of a global ressession. But how is that a country like China can become a global power with around 9% growth in these so called hard times when our economy was in total chaos. The government has also failed to stimulate the economy with any packages that has managed to take the economy to a total standstill.
Further to that, non economical but populist schemes also proved to be a big black hole for valuable resources. It is time we evaluated on the way the UPA government has been going on with their work in the last 10 years and evaluate whether they were successful or there were an utter failure. It is time for us to do a social audit and see whether we made the right decision by voting for the UPA or is it time for a change. It is time to take a decision and make the future secure for us Indians. Otherwise the history will never forgive us. May the correct judgement prevail.
Vante Mathram
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