Economy

Tamil Nadu : An opportunity lost for nothing.

An opportunity lost for nothing.

Indian government and various state governments are doing their best to contain the spread of the deadly virus. Many international bodies are appreciative of the steps being taken by the GOI. Let us appreciate and support the relentless efforts of the government. 

On the economic front too, the government is seriously many different avenues and options to attract the projects and investments that are likely to exit from China. This is so far so good. But there are certain decisions that could vitiate the atmosphere and might lead to major complications. 

The decision to ‘ease’ the situation and to relax the conditions of lockdown is not at all a wise one and has been taken much too early. When the number of cases keeps surging, when the number of ‘red zones’ is raising day by day, there should not have been any let up in the lockdown conditions. On the contrary, state governments have been given the liberty to form their own strategy and to formulate their own guidelines.  How come, the GOI after so much of extraordinarily well executed plan of action could let go the benefits of early lockdown? 

The moment they were allowed to have their say, the state governments at once allowed the opening of liquor shops as if that was the only problem confronting the people and the government.  While there is widespread complaint that the corona related lockdown has crippled the economy of the daily wage workers and that the very livelihood of millions of workers is in danger, the scene that is unfolding at the liquor shops says something else. 

Thousands of people gathered in front of the shops hours and there seemed to be no worry or concern for the virus or for the economic crisis. These are the people for whom the governments are rolling out free schemes and special packages! What a pity! 

Owing to total lockdown the liquor shops remained closed for more than a month and we did not see a single case of ‘mental breakdown’ reported from any part of the country.  There indeed was a healthy society slowly emerging that would stay away from alcohol forever. Slowly and slowly people were getting used to liquor free life. They were almost resolved to shed the habit of drinking once for all. It was the most opportune time to bid adieu to the harmful drinks. But the governments or the ones in charge of governance did not want to make use of the advantage gained over the past few weeks. They were rather ‘committed’ to bring back the evil without a single day of delay. We do not know what went behind but there indeed was unanimous decision in all the states to immediately re-open the liquor shops. It means that an advantage to the people could very well be a great disadvantage to the rulers!

Thanks to late Karunanidhi, Tamil Nadu has been ‘wet’ for almost half a century. The great leader, the incomparable statesman Rajaji literally begged at Karunanidhi to drop the idea of opening up the dreaded route to the downtrodden lot. But he turned down the appeal of the nonagenarian with scant respect as had been his response towards any noble suggestion all through his career. 

MGR did try to make amends but the defeat of ADMK in the 1980 parliamentary elections had driven him back on many of his pet subjects; one of them being liquor free society. The mother of all evils let free by Karunanidhi  had come to stay here forever. But corona offered a life time opportunity to re-enforce prohibition. 40+ days of liquor free life had given the habitual drinkers enough strength to stay away from the evil drinks and they were ready to accept a dry state. 

Prohibition would have brought many great benefits to the society at large apart from saving hard earned money of the toiling workers for the welfare and well-being of their families. This is not to be. Politics and ‘something else’ have won over the health and prosperity of the common man. Government of India and the Prime Minister in particular could have announced a total prohibition all over India and that would have been one grand appreciable outcome of the dreaded disease. What a costly miss it is – dear Prime Minister! 

In yet another development, Tamilnadu government has increased the age of retirement of state government employees by one year from 58 to 59. This again is the most disappointing decision by the Edapadi government which was really doing spectacularly well in many other areas. 

Effective management of cyclone (Gaja )related rehabilitation works,  freebies to the BPL families, declaring the Cauvery delta as special agricultural zone, the near complete victory over corona have given this government a people friendly image. Because of this, DMK the main opposition party, had to play a defensive game literally pushed to the back foot with no chance of charging ahead. This was the right time for Edappadi to further strategise his moves to permanently keep DMk incapacitated. Sadly, the government of tamilnadu failed again. 

As a fall out of corona, there has been the danger of vast unemployment looming large all over. The youth were looking forward to some good news from the government to come to their rescue in this hour of crisis. In fact the government could have drastically reduced the age of retirement and created new vacancies for the youth. 

The amount of retirement benefits would not have been a worrying point as the situation just fitted in for the government to hold back the benefits for a couple of years in some of the schemes to refund the money at a later date. Given the highly volatile situation, nobody would have questioned the decision of the government for delayed settlement. 

It is truly atrocious to extend the service of the employees by one year. It has blocked the ways for the aspiring youth. At the time when the private enterprises are in depression, when it is the duty of the government to step in and increase the opportunities of employment, it has taken a squarely opposite stand. This unimaginative move of the government is highly condemnable. 

In the light of the ensuing general elections next year for the state assembly, the ADMK government may re-visit its most unwise decision of extending the retirement by one year. 

To win over the hearts of the women voters, the chief minister of Tamilnadu shri Edappaadi Palanisamy may withdraw the permission to open liquor shops and may immediately announce total prohibition; and to garner support among the youth, the retirement age may be restored at 58. By doing this, Edapadi would do great good to his party and to the people of Tamilnadu.

May we appeal to the respected Prime Minister to look into the possibility of total prohibition all over India?  After all, a liquor free, dry state would be the fittest tribute to the Hindu nation! Is it not true? 

  • Baskaran Krishnamurthy.  
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5 Comments

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