A falling rupee, a failing Indian economy

While a declining rupee rate might quite clearly bring the divide between being an Indian, living in India and not living in India. India as a whole faces the effect it has on our economy. While many economists have predicted this downfall in the value of rupee rate ever since 2007, what is astounding is how there seems to be no solid plan to take action against it. ‘So what is the big deal with a falling rupee value anyway?’ one would ask. This requires us to understand how much lesser our valuable commodities are being sold for. To familiarize ourselves with this concept, it is necessary to rewind back a few years and conceptualize how our rupee as a system has undergone tremendous devaluation. Not many of us are aware of the fact that at the time when India gained independence in 1947, the value of 1 rupee = 1 dollar (US $). Astounding, isn't it? This would mean, say India sold one mango worth 1 rupee to the US, it would get back 1 dollar in return. Now take for example, India purchases one mobile phone from the US worth 1$ and we would give them 1 rupee in return. How just and strong was the Indian rupee at that point in time. 

To realize the extent of deterioration, in today’s world, India needs to sell 58 such 1947 quality mangoes to get back 1$. Doesn't that seem like a very big loss? Why should a farmer toil his way to get one dollar in exchange of a sack full of mangoes? As unfair as this seems, this is the state of our Indian market today. The mangoes being just about any valuable commodity our country produces. As inflation rises, the rupee just keeps getting weaker. Eventually local prices hike, making it very hard for a common man to tackle everyday expenses. As NRI’s for sure we get a better deal on remittance. The World Bank report states India receiving the largest amount of remittances in the world from non residential Indians. However, we need to ask ourselves, is that what we want for our nation, a country relying heavily on its foreign workers to nourish it? What happens to the millions who do not have that opportunity to be at the receiving end of the remittance?

Have we thought of those several aspiring students withholding their higher studies abroad due to the weak rupee and their inability to get funding? The infrastructure and development that is put on hold due to budget deficit & the hiked petrol prices. The commodity prices are rising due to increased transportation costs. Doesn't it all add up to a very heavy economic burden? Being non residents we can be deluded with our narrow reasoning of it not affecting us. Perhaps gloat about how much more value our 1$ coin is worth in terms of Indian rupees. Yet, the increasing economic burden on our country’s aam janta is a cause of great concern, the draining of its resources for a price so not worth its true value is a source of injustice, its young population working for international companies at a fraction of its pay is a drain of talent. After all this, if we still have the courage to rejoice at a falling rupee, we are in fact rejoicing at a failing India. Not quite what we thought of it to be.

Image courtesy : plus.google.com

Adopted from : my post on http://www.nrimatters.com/power-nris/a-falling-rupee-a-failing-indian-economy

Graduation - A transcending educational system

There was an importunate sense of disbelieve which settled in with each passing day. Call it a count down or the final steps to graduation. Whether one enjoyed it, crawled through it or simply surpassed it. The end ultimately brings back a collection of lived in memories. It’s a catastrophe, moving beyond the confines of a long accepted environment. Like it or not, the constant habitation leads us to discover people, places or hobbies which can help capitalize our time. It seemed hard at first, at the return of every single seasonal vacation, the sweet less festivals, the absence of mom made dishes, the hugged departures from home. With greater hopes and lesser expectations we plunged into the great sophomore year which taught more than just distraught. Emancipation was the newly added word in the dictionary of life. Being away had its perks. However there was a lot to be learnt from the nifty people and gritty surroundings. Halfway through came in the mid degree crisis. A shadow of realization seemed to embrace our souls. Were we where we are because we wanted to be? Or have we already given up to circumstances, forces and situations, considering them beyond our control. But a shadow lasts until sunshine, and so our realizations were short lived. Our curiosity in clueless ness propelled us into our pre final years. We could look down when confident and look up when in doubt. Being the middle kid for once wasn’t all that bad. The gravity of the word final hadn’t touched our conscience. How much damage could then a preceding pre final year do? We spoilt ourselves, lived like the only upcoming responsibility was our 21^st birthday. And unlike mystery novels the final chapter did not carry the ultimate suspense. The entire college era was a mystery in itself. So how much more could one expect at closure. Confusion perhaps was the only rage among the passing out students. Mind you, it’s called passing out for more than one reason. We blindly let ourselves in to thinking that the confusion is future. But a knock at the back door makes you realize, the confronted confusion is over the past, the done and the have not done. Whereas, fear is what resides within the uncertainties of the future. Fear of being placed at a university aisle or a professional courtroom. Nevertheless, holding on seems too outdated. Your part in that place is over, your connections may last; your recollections might become foggy. Beyond all, finally facing the world your parents lived in for the last 20 or more odd years, brings forth a rush of excitement and apprehension. Whether my footprints make me a better person or the world a better place, time shall tell.

I can’t ERADICATE poverty. I can only help REDUCE it.

Statistics can help analyze the reasons for being at BPL (Below Poverty Line). But can it really quantify the extent of misery caused by such a state. Its irretrievable. What I wish to do is look beyond the obsolete notion of being ridden by fate. We all speak of achievements, successful endeavors, trade establishments, which truly are for self-satisfaction if not anything else. However what really needs to be brood over is your contribution. Maybe not to the world by and large, but to a single individual. A stranger who has nothing to do with your whims or fancies. We educate ourselves because we ought to earn. We learn, train, develop skills just to be better, more significant and precious in our chosen careers. We laugh, cry, fume because we are humans or maybe not. But in the whole viciousness we disregard the empathy towards people who are challenged .By time, by fate, by circumstances. We owe them. And to single it out. You owe one. It’s not about transforming their lives from black to white, rather improving it to lesser shades of darkness. There is always something we are good at .As simple as making them smile by small acts of randomness. Happiness is not achieved by following golden rules, its but a state of mind. Your mind, which needs you to give it a reason to be extraordinarily usual.

Like somebody somewhere once said: Serving others isn't always easy. It's about being brave; you can't be afraid to be the lone nut in the crowd.