It is of no consequence to the common man  in the country, whether Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi is sitting on a fast  or not. The  political games that are being played by Congress  and the Bhartiya Janta Party at the national stage  or for that matter  National Conference and Peoples Democratic  Party in an unhealthy political competition with each other in Jammu and Kashmir  are of little interest to the people. The common man is facing an arduous  task : to survive in this nation where the only achievement of the Central government has been to burden them with high price rise.
The petrol prices went up by Rs. 3.14 per litre last month. The consumer has lost the count  of the times when the oil companies have raised the prices of fuel.  BJP and Congress have indulged in a blame game, and left is not far behind, but all are equally guilty.   If BJP led NDA government had deregulated the oil companies, the Congress –led UPA  government that swears by “aam adami” should have  discontinued that. It didn’t. It is for the government of the day to answer this question, as to why  ‘ aam adami” is  living a death in life  in this era when the oil prices have fallen across the world . The common man has done  nothing to devalue rupee as compared to the US dollar. It’s poor management of economy. Not  one or two but lakhs of crores have been  pocketed by the corrupt politician,  only a handful of them have been  put behind bars.
A man sitting in  Kupwara, Srinagar or Budgam  is the  victim of this  price brutality unleashed on him by the government.   It’s becoming, difficult, rather very difficult to survive.  As a student of economics, what  I understand who has fueled the demand of  fuel in the market; this is  the officialdom, the ministers, top executives and  unchecked perks for the government officials, and the corruption at all levels. Everything is for sale.  How much fuel is being spent on the security of the officials, how many cars are being misused by their families and how many of the politicians are paying taxes,  how come the people who didn’t have  bank balance running for more than three digits, now are masters of astronomical   sums.
Not only there is corruption all around, but there is a deliberate laxity on the part of the government not to act  on  the matters of urgency. For example, it would be  interesting to know that how much money the government has  spent on Kashmir in maintaining security since 1989, and how much  sense of security it has been  able to instill in the common man. There are umpteenth number of panels whose only contribution is   to enjoy the life at the expense of poor tax payer.
There is a need for the government of India to come out with a white paper as to how much money has been spent, and where all these years. How many  footprints have been added  since 1989 and what has been achieved at the end.  The gains, if any, should be  measured against the sense of security that common man has at the moment. Aren’t the people more afraid today than they were before.  If sense  of security has been achieved by having more security personnel and  more taxes and higher  cost of living,  isn’t  it instilling another kind of threat to the people in  Jammu and Kashmir.
Of course there can be an argument that price rising is affecting all parts of this country. The people in the country are suffering as much because of the price rise as the people of this state. It may sound as a valid argument. But look, it other way round. The geographical location of the state and the unique circumstances  make things more difficult here. How much is being spent on  maintaining “peace and security” in Jammu and Kashmir? The tax payer in the country is paying that. That is adding to the harassment of the masses, and doubly so of the people in Jammu and Kashmir because they not only pay higher cost of living  but at  the same time  have to face the  consequences of having  all those who are supposed  to  find ways of finding a sense of security for them.
The facts should be brought before the people. The security and its expenses  cannot be hidden from the  people. The Government must have this much transparency and let the people know why they have to suffer all this.

Lastupdate on : Mon, 19 Sep 2011 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Mon, 19 Sep 2011 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Tue, 20 Sep 2011 00:00:00 IST