Finance minister's comments

With due respect, I humbly ask the honourable minister if he has really seen and felt how hard it is to make ends meet for a family which earns a fixed income only(with no scope or desire to loot public money or take bribes).

There is no denying that under 'category one'-a number of officials and employees (in the government and government held organisations) do accumulate wealth (un-earned) much above their legal entitlements. This unearned wealth is, of course, not for free. It has a cost attached to it and the society at large pays for it.

The population (termed 'category two') who simply do not qualify to accumulate wealth (for lack of scope, absence of political favour or being simply averse to unethical practices) in the above manner take the direct hit resulting from spiralling prices of essential commodities like foods and vegetables.

None will disagree that the population under category two grossly outweighs the population under category one. I do not believe that our honourable minister is not aware of this hard fact and the relevant statistics.

The emergence and gradual development of a 'third category' of population, who find no difference between investment in politics and investment in business (both way an attractive return is desired) is yet alarming. The rate of growth of the para-political force (a derivative of the third category) is exponential and alarming. This class of population are virtually immune to any phenomenon like persistent price hike.

I conclude that the growth in the category one and three (including the derivative of the category three) population has blurred the vision of too many a people. How can we expect the finance minister to be thinking differently?