Inflation in astronomical proportions!

July 20, 2008 · Filed Under society · 1 Comment 

Prices of vegetables quoted in billions of Zimbabwe dollarsIndia is currently experiencing double-digit inflation. The pundits are busy with their verbal breaking wind as to how the economy is doomed and the common man is made to more than the situation demands, with the current rate of inflation hovering around 11%.

But Indians can breathe with equanimity and draw solace from the fact that India is not Zimbabwe. No, I am not referring to Robert Mugabe. Something more serious than that!

Read this Times of India News:

Zimbabwe to introduce 100 bn Dollar bank note

Central Bank Governor Says Inflation In The Nation Has Crossed 2.2 Million %

Harare: Zimbabwe’s central bank will introduce new higher-value 100 billion Zimbabwe dollar notes on Monday as part of a desperate fight against spiralling hyper inflation, the bank said.
Zimbabweans are suffering chronic shortages of meat, maize, fuel and other basic commodities due to the collapse of the once prosperous economy, which critics blame on president Robert Mugabe’s policies, including his violent seizure of white-owned farms.
Central bank governor Gideon Gono announced that inflation had surpassed 2.2 million %, though some economists put it much higher.
In a notice in the official Herald newspaper on Saturday, Gono said the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe would introduce 100 billion dollar special agro-cheques (notes), to help consumers who currently need to carry large wads of cash even for simple transactions.
“This new $100 billion special agro-cheque will go into circulation on Monday,” the notice said. The central bank has been printing higher denomination bank notes to keep pace with soaring prices. The most valuable bank note currently in circulation is worth Z$50 billion. Gono said he was also considering raising the amount of cash people could withdraw daily from their bank accounts.
The central bank has imposed a withdrawal limit of Z$100 billion, but this is only enough for two trips on an urban commuter bus or two loaves of bread — if one can find it. The Zimbabwe dollar, which had been officially pegged at 30,000 to the US dollar before exchange rules were relaxed recently, now trades at about 800 million to the greenback.
Besides struggling with shortages of basic goods and services, Zimbabweans also spend long hours in bank queues trying to withdraw their money. The central bank says the limits on cash withdrawals are designed to curtail a thriving black market in foreign exchange and basic commodities.
The worsening economy could add to pressure on the ruling ZANU-PF party to make concessions to the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, which has refused to recognise Mugabe’s overwhelming victory in a June 27 presidential runoff election.
MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai won the first round vote on March 29 but failed to get the absolute majority needed to avoid a second ballot.
Tsvangirai pulled out of that poll, citing violence by pro-Mugabe militia. Two weeks ago a German firm, Giesecke and Devrient, stopped deliveries of banknote paper to Zimbabwe following pressure from the German government amid international criticism of Mugabe’s widely condemned reelection. Gono said Zimbabwe had made alternative arrangements. REUTERS

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Chennai welcomes the Times of India

April 13, 2008 · Filed Under India-centric, Journal · 1 Comment 

Yes. It is adieus to The (non)Hindu!

The time has come to part with an association which had assumed a second nature for me. The typical morning routine of a steaming cup of “ticoction” coffee in one hand and the The Hindu on the other. But it is all history.

There was a time The Hindu represented everything that was representative of educated middle class culture in Tamil Nadu. The completeness of the information, the classy and impeccable English (many of the past generation had averred that they got autodidacted with the English language solely by reading The Hindu), uniqueness of authentic reporting, earnestness of the delivery and clear identity with the south Indian culture and tradition. But all this is past glory.

The Hindu, especially after its take-over by the current management, has undergone a total shift from its traditions for which it has acquired a loyal clientèle built assiduously over a century plus. To be precise, it has let down the loyalists by converting the newspaper almost like an official mouthpiece of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), if the recent front-page coverage given to the party’s conference is any indication.

In addition to the major shift in allegiance from the centrism to partisan, the quality also had gone down considerably. Inaccurate reporting galore, prompting the paper to dedicate a big column for publishing corrections. The language too deteriorated considerably. There was nothing left except the name. And name, God, “Hindu” is a misnomer, with the reporting slant being consistently anti-hindu.

WEll, Times of India has launched its Chennai edition and has hit my doorway today. Let me see how it fares.

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