Respect for Mr Ajay.

Mr Ajay has no surname. Because he is a cobbler, a mochi, which makes him a lower caste. Everyday he comes from east Delhi and sits on a pavement in Connaught Place where he repairs and polishes shoes all day. His father used to do the same job at the same spot and, as a child, Ajay used to come every evening to take him home because his father would be dead drunk. A common story of poverty, drink and misery. His father died when he was 15 years old, since when he has been doing this work, looking after his mother, his wife, one son and one daughter. " There is no standard for what I earn in a month. It can be less than Rs 10,000 and sometimes it can go up to Rs 15,000. All the money I earn goes in surviving - there are no savings ever," he says. He will have to be careful not to earn anything above Rs 20,834 per month, because he will have to pay income tax on any income above Rs 250,000 in one financial year, including 2% cess for education and 1% cess for higher education. If he wants to educate his children in private schools then he will have to pay exorbitant fees because 25% of seats are reserved for poor children under the Right to Education Act. If, by any chance, any of his children wish to study in IIT he should be prepared to pay fees of Rs 300,000 per year, or see his child rack up a loan bill of over Rs 1.2 million by the time they start working. He, or any member of his family, should not fall ill because doctor's fees and medicines will set him back by several thousand rupees. If he should require admission to hospital he will have to pay service tax on his bill. He should not mind because he will be contributing to the earnings of people he has elected to levy taxes on him. Their entitlements include services he cannot even imagine. He should be proud that members of parliament and civil servants are entitled to travel abroad for treatment on the taxes he pays. With companion. Of course, he can attend any of the government hospitals where he will have to wait in queue for hours to see a doctor, then for tests, and come back the next day to queue again to show the results to the doctor. He will be earning nothing for days, until he gets better. He has no hope for his future and neither the future of his children. It is the expense that bothers him. " Issi ka toh rona hai (that is what makes me cry)," he says. The RBI Governor explains that the rate of inflation has come down enough so that a pensioner can buy more dosas even if he is getting much less in interest on his savings. Ajay has no savings so inflation hurts. But Ajay is not begging, either for handouts as the rural poor or for huge bungalows in Lutyens Delhi, like our wealthy politicians. He is working with dignity. We salute Mr Ajay.