The Ticking Time Bomb
The last 15 years or so have seen such a rapid growth of Bangalore that the city old timers find it really hard to believe that all this was possible in so less a time. Bangalore has lapped up the economic liberalization and the IT/ITES wave like no other city and is hungry for more. The IT industry and the services industry associated with it has created a new breed of young go-getters with an immense appetite for growth and consumerism. All this is good for the health of the economy as a whole. The real estate is booming. The hotel, tourism, catering, transportation and construction industries never had better times than as of now.
But is everything hunky-dory and green as it seems from the surface ?
The answer according to me is sadly - NO. The IT boom has created a big chasm between the haves and the have-nots. These are the people in the unorganized sectors, small scale industries and others whose lot has more or less remained the same in spite of all the liberalization. The people who make the majority of our population. Walk into any bylanes away from the glitz and glamour of our malls, shopping complexes, glass facade offices and we are exposing the soft underbelly of our city. There is seething anger and frustration here of all the people who are barely managing to eke out a living. The real estate prices have risen so high, that I fear that our most basic necessity - housing is not within the reach of a majority of the population. The cost of living is so high that making ends meet is extremely difficult. The feeling amongst such people is that the government is pampering the IT industry, granting them every facility, bending their backs to appease the bigwigs, while they are left to rot in the squalor of their slums. Call me paranoid or a doomsday sayer but I think if we neglect this situation for too long, it will just blow on our faces one day.
The anger and frustration are already apparent on the roads. Take for instance an accident between a yuppie in a brand new car and a guy in an auto or a two wheeler. Whatever the circumstances of the accident, all the people on the road gang up against the yuppie and strip him of every paisa he has on him. If a yuppie goes to a government office to get some work done the bribe amount goes up automatically. If a yuppie is out there to buy or rent a house the prices are instantly jacked up by a cool 20-30%. The IT industry people are also soft targets for all sorts of crimes - robbery, mugging and other such things that happen at all points of time in the day. So the feeling I get is everyone is out there to milk the cash cow.
I feel that something serious needs to be done about this question of class inequalities or there will be a big backlash soon. How can this be done ?? Frankly speaking - I dont know. The marxist and maoists tried to create a classless society based on equitable distribution of wealth, but that model as we know failed miserably. We probably need to work a model that gives a more wealth creation opportunities to everyone and this would require a lot of effort from everyone and also a strong political will from the governing bodies. But the politics of democracy will not let that happen .. since the politicians need to keep the majority of the people poor so as to maintain their vote banks.
So whats the solution to this problem ?? How do we strike a balance for a more harmonious society ? Please let me know ...
But is everything hunky-dory and green as it seems from the surface ?
The answer according to me is sadly - NO. The IT boom has created a big chasm between the haves and the have-nots. These are the people in the unorganized sectors, small scale industries and others whose lot has more or less remained the same in spite of all the liberalization. The people who make the majority of our population. Walk into any bylanes away from the glitz and glamour of our malls, shopping complexes, glass facade offices and we are exposing the soft underbelly of our city. There is seething anger and frustration here of all the people who are barely managing to eke out a living. The real estate prices have risen so high, that I fear that our most basic necessity - housing is not within the reach of a majority of the population. The cost of living is so high that making ends meet is extremely difficult. The feeling amongst such people is that the government is pampering the IT industry, granting them every facility, bending their backs to appease the bigwigs, while they are left to rot in the squalor of their slums. Call me paranoid or a doomsday sayer but I think if we neglect this situation for too long, it will just blow on our faces one day.
The anger and frustration are already apparent on the roads. Take for instance an accident between a yuppie in a brand new car and a guy in an auto or a two wheeler. Whatever the circumstances of the accident, all the people on the road gang up against the yuppie and strip him of every paisa he has on him. If a yuppie goes to a government office to get some work done the bribe amount goes up automatically. If a yuppie is out there to buy or rent a house the prices are instantly jacked up by a cool 20-30%. The IT industry people are also soft targets for all sorts of crimes - robbery, mugging and other such things that happen at all points of time in the day. So the feeling I get is everyone is out there to milk the cash cow.
I feel that something serious needs to be done about this question of class inequalities or there will be a big backlash soon. How can this be done ?? Frankly speaking - I dont know. The marxist and maoists tried to create a classless society based on equitable distribution of wealth, but that model as we know failed miserably. We probably need to work a model that gives a more wealth creation opportunities to everyone and this would require a lot of effort from everyone and also a strong political will from the governing bodies. But the politics of democracy will not let that happen .. since the politicians need to keep the majority of the people poor so as to maintain their vote banks.
So whats the solution to this problem ?? How do we strike a balance for a more harmonious society ? Please let me know ...
posted by achinmay at 11:04 AM
1 Comments:
I think trying to create a society where all are equal takes away the incentive to working hard. So obviously that is not what we need to do. We need to create an environment where all rich people are tempted to invest their money into the economy, rather than just storing it. The rich, if they keep spending, will help generate many more jobs in all sectors. As jobs increase, so does the demand for workforce and so do the salaries. That is exactly what happened with the salaries of IT/ITES folks as well.
Try to compare Vijay Mallya with Deve Gowda. While Gowda is rich, he isn't helping the society one little bit by buying thousands of acres of land for him and his relatives. Mallya instead is opening more industries, airlines, etc, which is helping in creating more jobs and more wealth. Of course Mallya is getting richer in the process, but without that, why would he take all the trouble?
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