Aam Admi, My Foot

As anarchy deepens, the strong and the organised are using their power to increase their share of thecake. The weak are driven, inexorably, to the wall. This is happening on a scale so vast that it is difficult to take in all at once. But just take a few examples: in real terms, the price of cars, television sets, microwave ovens, refrigerators and other household electrical appliances has fallen by at least a quarter in the past six years; of personal computers and peripherals by half; of cameras, especially the new digital variety, by still more. Everyone's income is therefore stretching a good way further than it did half a decade ago. But wait a minute, who is this 'everyone'? Answer: India's new and burgeoning middle class. For the poor, all these are far out of reach, just the way it was.

On the contrary, what they can afford is getting dearer every day, whether it is the 'pugree' on a shack in a shanty town, the cost of a bus or rail pass, the price of a gas cylinder, a shirt, or fruits and vegetables. There are so few new jobs being created that people will accept almost any salary to get one. As a result, entry-level salaries in all but the privileged new managerial class have remained static in nominal terms while prices have continued their remorseless rise. Is it surprising, therefore, that despite his palpable sincerity of purpose, the prime minister's protestation that he intends to make the 'common man' (aam admi) the focus of his government's policies sounds just a little bit hollow?