Policies in bad faith.

Our most revered Finance Minister thinks that the Indian economy is challenged and is asking the opposition to support the government's policies. TOI, 9 October. " Without reforms, we risk a sharp and continuing slowdown of the economy which we cannot afford given the imperative need to generate jobs and income for a large population, most of whom are young," said he. Really? And who is responsible for this grim state of affairs? The Congress has been in power since 2004 and he was the Finance Minister till December 2008 when he was shifted to the Home Ministry after the inept handling of the Mumbai attacks by Shivraj Patil. He has been shifted back to Finance after the inept handling of retroactive taxes by Pranab Mukherjee  who was rewarded with the post of President thhis year. He was the Finance Minister in 2008 who increased salaries of useless civil servants by 80%, started the MNREGA scheme where taxpayer money is handed out to rural people and forgave debts of farmers in a most cynical and shameless bribery of the electorate ever seen in history. This resulted in rocketing inflation, uncontrolled fiscal deficit and falling growth rate. The IMF cut its forecast for India's growth to just 4.9%, yesterday. We have been writing about this since 2008 but we have no power to make people listen. However, now the Comptroller and Accountant General has sent a report to the Finance Ministry which says that beneficiaries of the farmers loan waiver scheme were selected at random, were concentrated in certain areas and those really deserving of the waiver were inexplicable left out. More than 37 million farmers benefited from the scheme which cost the taxpayer Rs 520 billion and brought windfall gains for the Congress in the general elections of 2009. Andhra Pradesh alone got Rs 110 billion under the scheme and elected 33 Congress MPs. Maharashtra got Rs 90 billion and UP received Rs 100 billion and rewarded the Congress handsomely in return. These 3 states elected 69 of the 207 Congress MPs in the present parliament. The CAG has said that " undeserving farmers " have cornered the bulk of the benefits and " small and marginal " farmers got nothing. In 2007 inflation was at 4.74%, oil was at $64.20/barrel and the rupee was 39.33 to the dollar. Cheap oil reduced government spending and excess liquidity in other countries was spilling over into India strengthening the rupee. Today inflation is at 10%, oil is at $100/barrel and the rupee is at 53 to the dollar. In its desperate bid to increase revenue, so as to bribe the electorate in next year's budget in preparation for elections in 2014, taxes have been increased on everything but this has resulted in increasing inflation and reducing growth even further. When policies are enacted in bad faith results will be bad. Trouble is, only we suffer, not the scoundrels.