The unrelenting fall in value of the Indian Rupee (INR) against the major Global Currencies like the US Dollar (USD), the Euro (EUR) and the UK’s Pound Sterling (GBP) must surely cause some consternation.
Against the most used currency for global trade, the USD, the INR has lost almost 50% of it’s value in these last 10 years alone!
The uninitiated may wonder, “So what?”. Here’s what!
Most people may not really “get” what the poverty gap really means and it’s impact on Indians at the bottom of the pyramid. Its either too painful, or, simply of ‘no interest‘ for it doesn’t affect them. The “I-Me-Mine syndrome” that’s swalloed most of the middle class.
No need to even talk of the Upper Class, who won’t even give the time of day to the Middle Class!! 😀
So, I refer you to this article, written by Ms. Moni Basu, a person of Indian origin in the CNN website. Worth reading for those who claim to be *emphatetic* 😀
I quote her to summarise the rather long and ‘painful‘ read. If you cliam to be emphathetic, read the whole thing!
Not far from the place I once called home stands one of India’s glitziest shopping malls. By day, the massive building dwarfs every structure around it. At night, a dizzying display of lights cruelly exposes the surrounding shops and houses grown green, brown and weary from pollution and rain.
Inside this shining behemoth called Quest, Kolkatans with fat pocketbooks spend their rupees on luxury foreign brands such as Gucci and eat at Michelin-star restaurants.
Outside, life’s cadences remain much the same for people like my friend Amina.
She lives in a slum in the shadow of Quest.
She is part of a faceless, often-cited statistic: About 60% of India’s nearly 1.3 billion people live on less than $3.10 a day, the World Bank’s median poverty line. And 21%, or more than 250 million people, survive on less than $2 a day.
Source: Here.
As for me, take a look 😇 I do my teeny winy bit. How about YOU?
The least you can do is to volunteer at some NGO that helps the poorest of the poor. Won’t cost you anything. But will enhance your self-esteem!
@jsvasan