IThe great Indian middle class dream is slowly turning into a night mare where the common man, as the middle class and the upper middle class is known, is not only being taxed like nobody's business but they have to pay the brunt of the poor, who are not tax payers!
There are no subsidies or the tax benefits for us! Of course there are the ads but in all how much can a salaried middle class afford to really save?
Back in 1991, when the man who was is our PM now, liberalized the economy and made the middle class realize their dreams, is the very person who is shattering the dreams of this middle class! Ironic. Full circle of life- whatever you may want to call it!
As the petrol prices reach almost 70 Rs/liter, and beyond in other states, it is hard to imagine what it would be like to run a house! If at all I am ever able to buy a house! The stark reality that, Metro cities and living in them is going to be as good as impossible unless, I stumble upon a lost relative who out of sheer love for me leaves me a couple of thousand crore of rupees! Which as we all know is super unlikely!
Then there will be other things, children their needs, education! And what not! Seeing the spiraling prices, I think, I'd rather have uneducated children! The dream of wanting them to study in our schools is just that- a dream!
And through all of these hardships, it is the middle class that is mercilessly raped,over and over again!
The rich, are just that, always- rich! And the poor, even if they have the money, will tale all the government benefits by showing that they belong to some or the other reserved category!
I wonder what the government is really upto? No, I am not going into the party bashing mode, for a simple reason, that I feel, that all these bloody politicians are crooks! Of the first order!
I wonder what do they get paid for? No substantive work is EVER done in the parliament and they get a hefty pay for breaking parliament property!
All these parliamentarians, with their hefty pay packets should be NOT paid a single penny. They should be made to use all the money that they have stashed away. Maybe then, they will realise, the value of the hard earned money that we salaried people pay, every time the inflation touches a new high!
There are no subsidies or the tax benefits for us! Of course there are the ads but in all how much can a salaried middle class afford to really save?
Back in 1991, when the man who was is our PM now, liberalized the economy and made the middle class realize their dreams, is the very person who is shattering the dreams of this middle class! Ironic. Full circle of life- whatever you may want to call it!
As the petrol prices reach almost 70 Rs/liter, and beyond in other states, it is hard to imagine what it would be like to run a house! If at all I am ever able to buy a house! The stark reality that, Metro cities and living in them is going to be as good as impossible unless, I stumble upon a lost relative who out of sheer love for me leaves me a couple of thousand crore of rupees! Which as we all know is super unlikely!
Then there will be other things, children their needs, education! And what not! Seeing the spiraling prices, I think, I'd rather have uneducated children! The dream of wanting them to study in our schools is just that- a dream!
And through all of these hardships, it is the middle class that is mercilessly raped,over and over again!
The rich, are just that, always- rich! And the poor, even if they have the money, will tale all the government benefits by showing that they belong to some or the other reserved category!
I wonder what the government is really upto? No, I am not going into the party bashing mode, for a simple reason, that I feel, that all these bloody politicians are crooks! Of the first order!
I wonder what do they get paid for? No substantive work is EVER done in the parliament and they get a hefty pay for breaking parliament property!
All these parliamentarians, with their hefty pay packets should be NOT paid a single penny. They should be made to use all the money that they have stashed away. Maybe then, they will realise, the value of the hard earned money that we salaried people pay, every time the inflation touches a new high!
I wonder, what the experts mean when they say that India is progressing economically...!!
Go help us, oh no, wait, god, please find an unknown relative, who has tons of money and who unconditionally leaves it for me in a tax heaven.. so that inflation doesn't bother me.. Yeah that would do!
Comments
But jokes apart, we guys are really in trouble. I can fully understand ur concerns and rants ... sailin in same boat principle.
Imagine, even if you earn a 70k per month which by all means looks a good salary,but is nothing in the Metros.
If you have two school going kids,then you'll have to shell out around 7.5k on their schooling per month,if not more. That takes away 15k from the salary. Apart from that, if you live in a rented house, a 3BHK's average rent varies from 17k in Noida/Ghaziabad to around 25k in Gurgaon. That knocks off another 20k. Add another 10k for miscellaneous household expenses on food and grocery. So fixed expenses= 15k+20k+10k= 45k. Imagine you're left with just 25k more to fend for yourself. If you've have a car EMI to pay,take another 5-15k from that, and you're left with 10-20k left with you.
I've not even taken into account the expenses when a family goes out for a movie or a dinner and around 5k in expenses if you drive a fairly good car as Honda City which you would to maintain your status. That would virtually leave a family with almost negligible savings.
The three innovative solutions I can think of to fight off inflation instead of cursing the government are:
1. Marry late. People now, anyway, are.The more late the marriage, the later the kids, the less the expenses.Women, don't blame me though if you have complications in child birth though if you heed this advice. Haha
2. Marry a rich woman or someone who earns substantially more than you even if it hurts your ego.Better than hurting your pocket which will in turn hurt your ego anyway :-D
3. Start asking your manager for an increment every month even if he says no even if he thinks that you're stupid. "Kya karein inflation hai,sir" :-D
I've not been in India for a long time and I've definitely not worked there, so I'm not sure I can relate to the taxation situation.
Maybe we all ought to have a discussion on this where I can listen and learn!
Nice writing- I can feel the anger.
But your solution of not paying politicians for doing work (or whatever farce they call work) is not the solution! They'd just take and make more from kickbacks and bribes!
We need another solution! And none of Mann's three make sense!
@ Mann,
Those solutions don't make sense, but they definitely made me laugh!
I like the analysis (that came before) though.
D
Mannu bhai your brief sketches seem scary :P
Thank god at least my bike gives a very good mileage to curb this petrol hike almost every month :)
Mann your analysis is damn good...
In fact I did a similar calculation a few months ago and when I figured out that I may not be having too much savings to enjoy in future I went to Sonnet ( earlier regent )to booze ..... God knows what happens next... I burned a hole in my pocket in paying the tax for it. The tax could have fetch me another drink.
We loathe politicians for devising such policies, show our anger and do similar things alike ..... Out of frustration we keep on saying lot of things which we think are solutions but are actually not..
So I am also not trying to give a solution but one thing I admit that I am eager to pay hefty taxes provided the government offers public facilities worthy enough for a great Indian middle class to enjoy such as develop a good transport facility so that we do not have to buy car, commute easily from one place to another; provide good medical facility absolutely free of cost ( like that of European countries )
At least if the government address these two issues many of our problems will be solved.---- Dont have to buy a car ( buying a car will be a sort of luxury if the government provides a facility), avoid traffic jam and also no tension to foot the medical bills if you fall sick or have any medical complications....
I am optimistic and I hope India will see that day soon.
Well, I have no idea what the government is actually trying to do!
I doubt though that you are sailing in the same boat!
Sarkari Afsar!
You have painted a nice scary picture for all of us, who were thinking of settling down! Yes, it is a mad mad mad kind of thing happening, all of a sudden, money has actually become paper.. that is it! the value is going down the drain! Another 2008 run in the markets, I know, how much the smaller investors will suffer!
Here is the draw back to your nice innovative solutions!
1. Late marriage- there will never be anything about the kids, because the later you marry, the harder it becomes to adjust to another person! By the virtue of you being so used being your own person for so long! the couple ends up fighting more! And you have any which ways mentioned the bearing of children draw back!
2. Marry for money, and you will have everything but, peace of mind. You will end up being more frustrated than happy.
3. And then the manager will kick you out and there will be no money in the pocket.. forget the increment!
See, it is not the tax system.. it is just hap hazard idiocity by the government. The government, has actually pretty much opened the price control of the petrol prices, and it is in the hands of the oil cos. The thing is, that instead of increasing competition, whereby, a company will be offering lower price than the other, all the oil cos increase the price!
It is exasperating, because there is a huge chunk of money that is gone out of the window... coz there is no planning, and something has to be done about it!
Maybe you should, and get us all a stake in it! ;)
@Maidhak
But the budget does go for a toss!
The thing is, that even if the government does something good, develops something, there are people who will spoil it in the first go.
The people need to learn to how to appreciate the public property and use it properly, instead of exploiting it!
Then only it makes sense!
shayon , beta ye soch tera kya hoga shadi ke baad .. he he ...
sakshi ko to bahot knowledge hai re ;)
All this knowledge is because Shayon pushes me.. he is a total freak when it come s to tech knowledge, so I have to know about other things.. so all the credit goes to him!
I cannot blame the increase in petrol prices.
Firstly there's the war in the middle east that holds the largest reserves of petrol in the world, and secondly (more importantly), all this oil is going to run out and we'll be back to the steam engine! Ha ha ha. So the prices are going to increase no matter what people want (you have to add inflation to all this too!)!
Sad, but true!
D (the couch economist)
abe photo to aa raha hai ...
So the only fuel left is petrol.
Poor government, the people in the government always seem unwise and draconian somehow, but sometimes they also don't have any other option. I'm no economist.Just that I read the editorial section daily, so I steal ideas/info from there :-D
These lines were directly out of the the editorial!
Diesel and Kerosene being the fuel of the poor!
On a serious note, the Government, really needs to take stricter measures as far as black marketeering is concerned. Believe it or not, Petrol/ oil is hoarded!
And there are oil fields that are under litigation as well!
I know, a systematic increase in price is always agreeable to, but in such quick succession, kills us man!