Indian govt's budget sops could be an election stunt

Broken promises

The Indian government extended quite a few sops to its citizens in the interim budget it presented a few days ago. The opposition has dubbed it as an election manifesto. Yes, it could be. And for some, it may be good news. But for me, trouble lurks on the horizon, if that claim is true (“Dismal failure on job front,” Feb.5, The Gulf Today).

Modi promised us something similar at election time in 2014. As the author of the narrative pointed out he strode into office with the slogan of development and promised the people achche din (good days). But five years down the line, it is anything but that. He promised to create 20 million jobs. But what is the ground reality?

I read a few days back that over 150 MBAs and engineering graduates applied for a handful of jobs of ‘sanitary workers’. Of the 4,607 applications for 14 job posts for sanitation workers at the Tamil Nadu Assembly Secretariat, 66 applications were from engineering graduates, besides the 150 over qualified applicants.

Good job! It’s ‘achche din’ redefined.

Fahid Rahman — By email