When infallible FM failed to tame inflation

What has happened to the country's economy which often claims to be one of the fastest growing economies of the world? Unmindful of strict instructions given by our Finance Minister, P Chidambaram, to the industries to hold the priceline. While presenting the annual budget for the next fianancial year, the FM tried to treat the industry with both carrot and stick. On the one, he said that he would be rewarding those cement manufacturers that were charging Rs 190 per 50-kg bag of cement by reducing the excsise duty from existing Rs 400 per tonne to Rs 350 ; he raised the same duty to Rs 600 for those that were selling their cement bags at a price more than Rs 190. But did the cement manufacturers listened to the words as uttered by him? Not at all. And it was crystal clear by the response given by the cement manufacturers by increasing the cement price by Rs 10-12 per 50-kg bag. The reason is simple to find out. The first thing the FM forgot to check that what was the prevailing cement price in the market which was existing at more than Rs 210 per bag of 50-kg. The second thing FM could not understand was the wrong timing of selecting cement industry to teach it a task in his bid to tame the surging inflation. Everyone knows that the construction sector is at its boom and hence boosted up morale of the cement manufacturers at a time when the demand of the building material had exceeded supply. Lastly the FM did'nt think it wise to hold a meeting of the cement manufacturers before taking this harsh step. The other day when the FM hurriedly called up a meeting of the cenment manufacturers urging them to reduce the price hiked by them post budget. But to no avail. And the dialogue continues between the government and the industry without any clue of settlement. UPA Chairperson, Sonia Gandhi, had to accept publicly that it was the inflation that caused the defeat for her party in the recently concluded Assembly polls in few states like Uttaranchal and Punjab. ON her instance the FM has held a number of meetings with all those industries taht are on the price hike spree post budget and some of them include steel and car making companies. Again without any positive response coming from them. Hence it is time for the FM to take a pause and seriously think over what to do to cool down the inflation. One good news is that the inflation has already come down to nearly 6 per cent in recent past which can provide a relief to him to a certain extent.
Cheers.
Kumud.
12-03-2007.

My unforgettable train journey

Train journey is always full of exciting tales, they say. Same was my experience while making a trip to New Delhi from Mumbai recently. My brother, B, was accompanying me. As our train reached Kurla, from where we had to leave it as we had to go to Dadar by another mainline train from there, a huge crowd started to rush towards the bogie we were travelling in to find space for them.
Even though he (my brother) managed himself to come out of the train safely, he could not bring the two bags he was carrying with him thanks to the heavy rush of people. Aloso, he fell down on the platform and by the time he could know what was happening around, the train had left for its next destination taking both of his luggages along with it.
ONe more interesting thing happened in between. The mainline train had left 'in time' that very day leaving we two as a 'harassed lot'. On the advice given by a good samaritan passenger, we boarded another mainline train which would leave us at Kalyan from where we could make a last ditch effort to catch the required train. We were almost sure that our belongings, which we had lost at Kurla, must have been grabbed by any thief there.
However an interesting thing happened . While the train was chugging its way to Kalyan, my brother received a call on his mobile. The call was given by the station master of the CST informing us that our luggage along with the valuables had reached in the safe hands of teh 'lost & found' section of the railway department and we can collect them anytime by showing our identity.
On our return from New Delhi a few days later, we got back our luggages back after doing all the formalities. To our utter surprise, the railway personnel concerned had prepared the list of all the materials, big or small. We were told that it will take some time when we get back the cash amoiunt that was stuck in the luggages. Still, teh way the care was taken by the railway authorities was enough to change our mindset towards the government offices. Now we have cahnged our notion towards 'babus' that take every minute care while disbursing their duties.
Cheers.
Kumud.

My New Year's Resolution

Whenever there arrives a new year, the first thing one does is passing resolutions for the year. Keeping the same tradition, I've too decided to do so many things. However, scaling new heights by continuous skill development will top my agenda.
While working hard has always been my passion, this year I just want to see how meaningful it turns out to be. Often I'm blamed to do things with more emphasis on physical labour keeping aside my intellectual development. But this is going to be a pase now.
The second thing I have to do this year is adding new feathers to my cap of career's glory. Getting degree of journalism is very much there on my new year's itinerary. However, creative development will continue to be my do's of the year.
Say cheese.
KK Das
06-01-2007.