India spoke through Bharat Bandh
Through the bandh that was called by opposition parties on Monday, it has been very evident that people are very upset with the current regime. The bandh called by Congress, other parties and other pro-people organisations has been a whopping success.
The whole country starting from Kashmir to Kanyakumari has spoken, and how! People participated in this bandh on their own accord. People had high expectations from the Narendra Modi government that assumed power four and half years ago, riding on its own lies.
People assumed black money would come into their bank accounts and each of them would get at least Rs 15 lakh as mentioned by the then PM candidate Modi. He had also assured them that he would create 2 crore jobs every year and that he’d control corruption, inflation/price rise, and run the government scam-free.
But none of these assurances were met in the last four and half years that Modi has been in the office. Not just that, he put everyone into unspeakable misery with his gimmicks of extracting black money, with demonetization that put people into massive hardships. No black money came out.
Another drama unfolded in the name of GST. Even that fell flat. Corporate defaulters like Nirav Modi and Vijay Mallya ran to foreign shores right under the nose of the government, with big loans taken from banks for their booty. The government in a way, aided their escape.
Rationale given for demonetization was that fake currency up to Rs 3 lakh crore would be controlled. But more than 99% money came back into banks. Over Rs 6 lakh crore was spent to print new notes. They not only let the people down, but subjected them to various difficulties.
Innocents were chased and killed by communal goondas under the name of Gau Raksha. The caution issued to them by the PM was just lip service. The Modi government tried its best to crush the Dalit voices across the country. This led to the death of a student Rohit Vemula in Hyderabad University, under suspicious circumstances.
The government attempted to saffronise the Jawaharlal Nehru University and created an environment of total unrest.
The promise of corruption-free administration has fallen flat. The government has been caught in quite a few big value scams regarding the Rafale warplanes deal with France. This whole issue was unknown to the minister of external affairs, and minister for defence. The PM had entered into this deal with the France-based company directly in order to make massive profits for Ambani and the others that are in his good books. The government does not reply to RTI queries regarding the deal.
The inflation has skyrocketed. Essential items consumed by people cost a lot more than they did before, and the government hardly intervenes to control prices.
Though the crude oil/petrol, diesel prices and LPG are a lot lesser than before in the international market, common people can never get the benefit of it. Each cylinder now costs over Rs 800 per unit. Diesel costs Rs 75 per litre now, and petrol is at Rs 85.
The common people have been so frustrated by all these expenses that they responded to Bharat Bandh quite well. Narendra Modi had assumed power with the assurance of creating 2 crore jobs every year. He hasn’t been able to deliver even 10 lakh jobs per year.
The government isn’t even willing to fill the vacancies right now. Since everything is boiling down to accountability, PM says one could even earn a livelihood by selling Pakodas. Another minister Nitin Gadkari says there are no jobs in the government so they cannot create reservation posts for the sake of people.
The population of India has crossed 130 cr. Unemployment is biting people hard. More than half of the young people are in tension about their future. If there is a vacancy for a few hundreds of posts, lakhs of applications come in for the same.
But the government is unable to provide jobs. According to available data, more than 24 lakh jobs are lying vacant in state and central government. They need to be filled fast. Education department alone has 10 lakh vacancies. Railways has 3 lakh, police department has 6 lakh vacant posts, Anganwadi has 2.2 lakh vacancies, Health sector is awaiting filing of 1.5 lakh posts with armed reserve forces showing a vacancy of 50,000 posts.
The government has been unable to meet its promises. Hence, people were forced to take to streets yesterday to express their anger against this government. Hope the message has gone out loud and clear.
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Rupee hits all-time low for second time in a week
Mumbai (PTI): The rupee depreciated 31 paise to settle at 91.99 against the US dollar on Wednesday, touching the lowest closing level for the second time in less than a week, amid increased month-end demand for the greenback.
Forex traders said the rupee opened higher as the US dollar index softened and a long-awaited trade breakthrough with Europe offered quiet reassurance. However, increased month-end demand for the American currency as well as the ongoing geopolitical tensions dented investors' sentiments.
At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened at 91.60 and touched an early high of 91.50, but pared all the gains to touch an intra-day low of 91.99 against the greenback.
The domestic unit settled 31 paise down, revisiting its lowest-ever closing level of 91.99 against the greenback. The Indian currency previously ended at this level on January 23 when it also hit its all-time intraday low of 92 against the US dollar.
On Tuesday, the rupee rebounded from its all-time low levels and gained 22 paise to close at 91.68 against the US dollar.
Analysts said the rupee opened higher as the US dollar index softened and a long-awaited trade breakthrough with Europe bolstered investor sentiment.
India and the European Union on Tuesday announced the conclusion of negotiations for the free trade agreement (FTA), under which a number of domestic sectors such as apparel, chemicals and footwear will get duty-free entry into the 27-nation bloc, while the EU will get access to the Indian market at concessional duty for cars and wines, an official said.
The deal has been dubbed the "mother of all deals" as it will create a market of about 2 billion people.
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.07 per cent lower at 96.14.
Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, was trading 0.43 per cent lower at USD 67.28 per barrel in futures trade.
On the domestic equity market front, Sensex jumped 487.20 points to settle at 82,344.68, while Nifty surged 167.35 points to 25,342.75.
Foreign Institutional Investors turned net buyers and purchased equities worth Rs 480.26 crore on Wednesday, according to exchange data.
