Thought for the day
”Let us learn to appreciate there will be times when the trees
will be bare, and look forward to the time when we may pick the fruit.”
-
Anton Chekhov (Russian, 1860-1904)
Word for the day
Equanimity (n)
Mental or emotional stability or composure, especially
under tension or strain.
(Source:
Dictionary.com)
Teaser for the day
Who do we honor by coffering Bharat Ratna, Padma Awards,
and gallantry awards -
(a) The country - for having great/brave people; or
(b) The person - for being great/brave; or
(c) The award itself for embracing a great/brave person; or
(d) All of the above?
Expect little economics at Red Fort
If my memory is not failing me, in past two decades the Prime
Minister's independence day speech has never been awaited in Mumbai with so
much anticipation.
The underprivileged from the relatively less developed parts of
the country have always looked forward to the occasion in hope of some new
welfare schemes and extension of reservation quota to cover more areas/people.
However, middle classes mostly lost interest in the event from
the beginning of the Mandal Era in late 1980s'. Businessmen, industrialist and
the participants in financial markets have mostly heard the speech to fish out
negatives in terms of rising pressure on fiscal deficit and rhetoric towards
neighboring countries creating avoidable tension.
This time however it is different. All are keenly anticipating a
historic speech from the ramparts of the historic Red Fort. The reasons are
many and varied.
The most common being, Narendra Modi led BJP's election campaign
had raised the vertical limits of people's expectations by a good measure. The
boring long budget speech of Arun Jaitley mostly failed to match the elevated
expectation level. People are now expecting the independence speech to
supplement the void left in the budget provisions.
On a lighter note, after a decade we will have a proven good
orator delivering a speech against reading a speech.
Narendra Modi unambiguously reiterated at BJP's national council
meet last week that the primary focus of his government is the poorest amongst
the poor. It is of utmost interest to economists and financial experts how his
government would achieve the elusive equilibrium between often conflicting
goals of fiscal discipline, higher headline economic growth, large scale job
creation, price stabilization, social justice, etc.
The government's likely Rajya Sabha strategy has also assumed
significance in view of the opposition
to the Insurance Bill. People are also expecting some hints on the solution to
this issue also.
So far, BJP leaders have avoided references to the traditional
cultural nationalism agenda in their public utterances. Modi's opponents,
within and outside NDA are frustratingly looking for some hints of this to hit
back at Modi, who has emerged as a rather exacting leader of the government.
A section of media, especially English print and electronic
media, appears suffering from serious sense of guilt post elections. This
section of media had chastised Narendra Modi since 2002 and strongly ruled out
chances of his becoming prime minister. Post election results this section of
media (whom Modi likes to call "News Traders") has been frequently
raking up trivial issues to show their displeasure. They will be keen to find
some holes PM's speech.
I will also be turning on my TV set early in the morning to hear
Mr. Modi. I am not expecting to hear much on
the economic agenda of the government. I would hate to hear Congress bashing
or customary warning to neighbors.
Tomorrow I would list what I would like to hear from Mr. Modi on
this independence day.
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