Bad, Bad Times

I've been thinking about the world at large recently- about the events, people and attitudes that have shaped our world in recent times. And I have to say, these are bad, bad times. I didn't find much to be cheerful and optimistic about. Why do I feel this way about things? Well, to start with the general politico-economic mood in the world is gloomy. The greatest country in the world is in the throes of economic recession and the repercussions are evident the world over. Every day in the news we get to hear about another financial institution having run itself into muddy waters.

Till just a year ago, our country India seemed unaffected in the face of this global gloom. We seemed to outshine circumstances with our internal growth story. People said that India's economy has finally come of age and things will continue to look up the way they have. Our Sensex scaled astronomical highs within weeks and experts were out of breath just imagining where it might go in the future. But very abruptly we were reminded that we're living in a world where everything is increasingly interconnected. Just one of the perils of our globalized times. When one section of the seamless global economy feels the heat, so does everyone else.

Oil prices are rising and with it the prices of all essential commodities. Our populist government has tended to keep us insulated from high oil prices by passing on the burden of subsidies to public sector oil majors, but that seems to be an increasingly tenuous solution to our problems. Inflation rates are at their peaks and garrulous housewives are complaining. To add to all that an unforgiving summer is approaching fast. This could mean more power cuts and water shortages in a country where the infrastructure has never kept pace with our huge population. Of course, come monsoon showers and we will conveniently forget our summertime woes. And come autumn, no one will remember the floods of the rains.

As if all this were not enough, our country has run itself into a huge food deficit. Our per-capita agricultural production is at the levels of the seventies. Which essentially means that after the Green Revolution we conveniently assumed that we had done enough to ensure food sufficiency and happily went to sleep. This time around though things are different. Given the steep rise in commodity prices across the globe, no country will be willing to export important agricultural products like wheat - at ANY price. We can't even buy our way through this mess.

The alarm bells that are ringing now should have been ringing long back. Even now most people choose not to hear them. Those who do are bemoaning the vileness of these times. I say if God has been waiting for an opportune moment to send us a Messiah, THIS is it.