There is no sun shining through..
There is no sun shining.....
Looking at the current state of affairs in India, to an outsider it would certainly seem so. 2008, which began with a lot of promises, has failed to live up to any. he Sensex, which was promising much at the beginning of the year, instead crashed all hopes, declining by almost 60% since attaining the peak of 21k in January 2008. If this weren't enough, the US economy collapsed (the technical term is "entered into a recession"), dragging the entire world down with it. Growth slowed, banks failed and then disaster struck Uncle Sam -- banks filing for bankruptcy and growing unemployment were but a few problems faced by the US.
This for the world scenario. On the home front, India was battling inflation while witnessing the meltdown of realty stocks and financial firms (darlings of the stock markets in the years gone by). When the realization finally dawned that this crisis was far from over - infact, it was worse than the Great Depression of the 1930s - the US Government stepped in with bailout packages, rate cuts and special plans to try and revive a sagging economy. The net result: still more collapses, more banks and firms going to their respective governments, hats in hand seeking more aids, investor's confidence continued to erode! Oil prices, which had scaled a historic high of $147 a barrel in July 2008, slipped and then went into a tailspin and finally a free fall -- oil prices were $43 a barrel in today's trading! And oh did I mention the governments of Iceland, Ukraine, Pakistan and Hungary that approached the World Bank / international Monetary Fund for a cash infusion to rescue their stalling economies?
In between this mayhem, a black man (who was not even born in America) was chosen as the President of the United States of America. The world cheered -- amidst this darkness, the success of Barack Obama was seen as the spark, the miracle the world was waiting for. Suddenly, people had hope - countries woke up from their stupor, took a realistic lookaround and declared that the world would be back on the growth path -- and out of this financial crisis-induced mess -- within 18 months! This was followed by coordinated rate cuts across the globe and stimulus packages (on the lines of the U.S. Government's) in a bid to revive the economy and prevent it from slipping into a period of stagflation or even worse, a recession.
Just when all seemed to be going well, terror struck. From Delhi to Malegaon to the heart of India's financial capital, terrorists of all kinds -- from the jihadis to the Hindu zeonists -- played havoc! And of course, the crown of all attacks go to the planners of the attack on Mumbai -- well planned, even better executed! They stuck to their tasks and their mandates unlike our politicians. It certainly seemed like there was no sun shining through...
However, the attack on Mumbai touched too many raaw nerves and for once, the governments decided to act unitedly. Diplomatic pressure was the mantra of the day and within 2 weeks of India's version of 7/11, the Pakistan government agreed to crack down on the non-state players that were using its territories to launch acts of terrors on foreign lands. I will not bore you with the details, but here is the concerned press release.
And only yesterday, on December 7, 2008, the Indian Government announced several measures, including duty and rate cuts and a stimulus package exceeding Rs. 32,000 crore to achieve our GDP growth target of 7% for 2008. Suddenly, you can sense some hope in the air. But whether it will stay or how long will this hope last are the questions doing the round in my head. Do you have the answer? I invite you to share your opinion here.
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