Hypocracy - thy name is austerity

Much has been made of the Government's so called austerity drive that made S M Krishna and Sashi Tharoor vacate their 5-Star Hotel Suites, and asking Ministers to fly economy. This is nothing but a gimmick.

The non-plan expenditure has been spiralling out of control for decades now. Successive commissions have asked that the bloated bureaucracy be cut off its flab. The subsidy schemes and the social sector spending has been leaking with hardly any benefit for the beneficiary.

Despite the then FM's promise to reduce fiscal deficit 5 years ago, nothing has been done on this count, becuase the Government doesnt want to antagonize the vested interests. The much publicised National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme is nothing but a means for local leaders to make money. It is a sham, but a sham that gets the votes for the Congress Party.

Congress Party, and for that matter all political parties in India, are spendthrifts and behave like feudal lords with utter contempt for the welfare of the common man. They believe in patronage, using public money. Otherwise, we would have had a world class Government Education, Healthcare and Agricultural system by now.

The current austerity drive is nothing but a self defeating hypocracy, that will hog the headlines for a few days with ministers reverting back to flying and living in style in a couple of weeks. Maybe, austerity can begin at home with Sonia, children and PM dispensing away with the Z-Class security which costs the nation a fortune.