We moved ahead despite the odds
It is seldom easy — or convenient — to assess the times we live in. The difficulty arises on account of our proximity to events, people, and institutions, and indeed our participation in the episodes of our own period either as actors or recipients of impact in a beneficial or harmful way. And yet, it is inescapable that we take stock. This aids the process of looking ahead.
The year just ended — 2011 — poses particular problems when we proceed to attach value to it as a community or as a people. It was overshadowed by particular events of a negative type — the exposure of corruption in high places of an unprecedented order, judicial trials associated with it, and a socio-political campaign against corruption that threatened political stability by proposing methods that many found unacceptable as these appeared to undermine the constitutional scheme, even as new constituencies sprouted in support of the Anna Hazare agitation. The year 2011 was also marked for sapping negativity in the economic sphere. Prices remained stubbornly high, taking a huge toll on ordinary lives, until almost the last week of the year. Industrial production, especially in the crucial infrastructure sector, hit lows that have not been seen for some years. Interest rates were stuck at high levels, hurting borrowing by industry. The stock market went down worryingly. The saving grace was the savings ratio, which, thanks to the cautious and pragmatic propensity of our people, remained perched at respectable levels. On the whole, on the economic side, we were lucky to be posting a seven per cent rate of expansion of the economy when most the world was sunk in gloom on account of various kinds of crises ravaging Europe and North America.
In order to keep perspective, we should remember that political stability — at the Centre and in the states — has not been compromised in spite of fierce political argumentation. When we survey the field in West Asia and in our neighbourhood, we can congratulate ourselves for maintaining both order and creativity. The Kashmir situation is the best it has been since militancy erupted there two decades ago. The troubled Northeast also looks better than it has been for some time. Relations with neighbours have improved, and those with the great powers been kept well oiled. If worked well, the new food security legislation will enormously benefit the poor. The Citizens’ Charter and Grievance Redress legislation of the Centre should help fight grassroots corruption and is of the first importance. We have kept our head above water in a very uncertain world this past year. We wish our readers a happy year in 2012, when purpose may unite with joy in their endeavours.
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