Budget 2015: Middle finger for the middle class! As Always!

My first post after the Modi govt took over the reigns of India.

Middle class has been a constant supporter of the NDA government, be it in 1998,99 or for that matter even in 2004,09 where most of the seats having representation of lower and upper middle class went to BJP. Modi rose to power in Delhi with a developmental agenda and with a slogan 'Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas' but unfortunately he has not been able to give his 'saath' to Middle Class of this country even in this Budget i.e. #Budget2015. There were very good provisions for the unemployed and the poor class in this budget, I congratulate them for that. But why this ignoramus attitude for the middle class?

Jaitley is known to be amongst Lutyen's elite. I wonder if he will ever be able to understand the middle class. Various schemes for the poor section of the society is very well lauded but what a FM needs to understand is if he doesn't help the middle class which is rapidly growing at this point then he might well be pushing them into the poor class of the society.

Jaitley said in his budget speech that the approx value that a middle-class individual can have an exempt of ~4.40 lakhs indirectly. I went through the fine print and found it totally unacceptable. It is nearly impossible for an individual to take benefit of all the exemptions at once. For e.g when an individual has a housing loan then why would he be setting aside an amount of 1.5 lakh for a pension fund, beats common sense. Also, what is govt expecting from them? saving every penny earned in useless schemes just to save tax? FM is indirectly pushing the neo-middle class into poverty by cornering them. All they want is to save some money that they earn and that too with their choice, By not increasing the tax slab and giving useless indirect tax exemptions, govt is forcing it citizens to take a pill which is not acceptable.


Leave it us on how to save our well-earned money, we are more careful for our wealth than you, Mr. FM. Shed the 'status-quoist' attitude of the babus.

What should I write on

         Long time! Sigh!
         Indeed it's been a very long time since I thought I'll be writing a post on something very intriguing (at-least for me) but a good read for all of you readers. So after much of a brainstorming on weekends ( I being a trainee software coolie gets time only on weekends)  I narrowed down to few important points-to write upon something which has always haunted me. The growing disparity between the rich and the poor, the tyranny of being from the first generation educated strata of a lower middle class, the high aspirations of middle class community in growing India, totally unorganized education sector system in India (profit making education sector in alive and kicking) which gives unequal opportunities to many  etc etc. So I'll start writing on one of the points given above today itself and will post it very soon. Till then enjoy the weekend.

Book Review: Everybody loves a good drought

           Just finished reading 'Everybody loves a good drought' by P. Sainath. It is, undoubtedly, an excellent journalistic work on poverty in India by, what he calls himself, 'A Rural Reporter'. In this book, he brings in stories from some of the poorest districts of India. The book not only takes you to the awful condition of the poor and the tribal India but also goes in its depth and arrives at different issues. To sum it up, he arrives at the doors of land acquisition, rural health, water management, mining et al, of which, almost all are now being termed as a crucial factors to be resolved for an inclusive growth. It also takes a dig at the establishment for acting in haste(after the crisis has occurred) without substance and required knowledge thereby helping the vested interests. Overall it presents the poor, their problems, state's action( if any), curbing of their basic rights and livelihood etc. For those who still wonder what actually happens in rural & tribal India, please go for it!

Opportunity Cost, Status Quo & My Time!!

Opportunity Cost(OC) -  It simply means the loss of potential gain from other alternatives when one alternative is chosen. 

Again in simple terms, maintaining the 'Status Quo' is to keep the things the way they presently are. i.e. not trying to add/remove any value to/from the system.


         Here, in this case, I would like to consider the opportunity cost of time spent, not in the context of money. (OC) = 'I could've done so much'-it may even sound less.
                   

         Many of us utilise time for different things which later turn out to be useless, unproductive."I wasted the time, that too badly" the conscience echoes over & over again!"But how did I waste the time? Did I know that I was wasting the time?" The answer is 'No'. Usually no one knowingly wastes the time (except for some fools like me :P ). But there is something very 'habitual', which is deeply rooted, that makes it happen i.e. getting used to Status Quo.

         Each time I relied on status-quo and flowed with the wind silently, I actually lost a great opportunity to make a difference, adding some value to the moment of life. I did waste a lot of extremely precious time. The opportunity cost was also huge. But then I've now realised that status-quo is unsustainable. Trying to maintain the status-quo, that is unsustainable, is the foolish thing that one can do instead of utilising the same time in productive & innovative things. So its time to put my time in some productive purposes :)

         It is then I recalled the remarks of Dr. Jayaprakash Narayan, the founder of LokSatta Party, that he often makes       

                        'Change is inevitable when Status Quo is unsustainable'

        So I've arrived now breaking the walls of procrastination. Yes, Change is inevitable. Be the change. Add some value to the moment of life(system). Celebrate Life.

- - Yours Truly