What strikes first is her superstar
looks. Toned body, stylish hair let loose, shaped eyebrows, fair and
lovely face oozing with confidence, unbuttoned jacket on matching
top…. What's the secret, girl? What cream, what spa, what diet?
It’s not about
her looks, stupid. She’s talking about the country’s economy; about the
world’s crisis. She is a professor.
Yes, yes, I understand. I know this smiling girl. Always pleasant, she
sat in her corner, smiling and doing her work. Nobody bothered her
about anything. Then one day she became a lecturer. And now she is a management expert; her opinion, golden quote. What do you think Nokia should do
about Samsung, smiling girl?
Be serious, man. Forget smiling girls
and micro issues. Here you have a macroeconomics expert, teaching in
Harvard.
Harvard? Yeah, I know. The Ivy League. Meant for the best in the world. Where
champions learn their basics. Which school did you go to, girl? I
want to enlist my daughter there. Did you study in Delhi?
Come on, man, don’t be so narrow
minded. Listen to her. She is talking about much bigger things than
your daughter. Take, for example, the food bill that will impact thousands
of children in our country.
Food bill?
The National Food Security Bill.
Once it's passed in Parliament and becomes an Act and is implemented,
it is supposed to ensure that nobody goes hungry in the country.
Wow. Bravo! That’s noble. Our country
needs that. I know we have more hungry people than anywhere else in
the world. Some 700 million poor, isn't it? Here's one for the food
bill.
Hey, hey, don’t jump the gun. First
listen what she says. She says it’s a stupid idea that will cost
the country thousands of crores of rupees every year. She says it’s
irresponsible for the government to push such a thing and that it's
only meant to win votes in the elections.
Well, if people get to eat and they are
happy and if they vote for the same party, what’s the harm?
You don’t get it, man. Hear her out
before making comments. See, the real poor will not benefit from this
Act. All the money will go into some frauds. Haven't you read about
the World Bank study that said 60% of food grains released through
the public distribution system does not reach those it is meant for?
Now the government will use the same distribution model for the food
Act. You know very well where it will end up—corrupt officials,
politicians and their dear ones.
True, but once the Lokpal bill is
passed, then ideally such issues will be sorted out. You too were at
the Ramlila Maidan, weren't you? You said it will at least provide a
tool to sort out these corruption issues.
Come on, man, but you should know a
Lokpal cannot make the public distribution system work. No bill can
change the system here, you know that.
Oh! I thought I was the rebel, I was
the cynic, and you were the optimists. It's you, white-collared
executives, who relentlessly call for reforms and foreign investments
and free trade, you're the ones who say the country will rule the
world.
It's true that we need Lokpal and we
need to fight corruption. It's also true that we are an emerging
economic super power destined to control the world within a decade or
two. But to achieve that, we have to make the right moves, we have to
open up and let in capital to help the cuntry achieve its full
potential.
Now you are going over my head. All I
know is we are hungry – some 700 million of us – and we need
food. You can't infinitely feed us with dreams that the Wal-Marts and
the Googles will pull us out of poverty.
There, there! Don't be upset. You don't
understand it because you don't know economics. Have you read Adam
Smith? John Stuart Mill? Max Weber? John Kenneth Galbraith? Milton
Friedman? Paul Krugman and Joseph Stiglitz?
I've heard some of those names. They
are all economists, huh?
There you are. See, you don't know a
thing about economics. What are you talking about? Listen to this
girl here, half your age, she knows her stuff.
You're right. She's Harvard professor;
I am BA pass....But I am hungry.
