mulayam singh was concerned. after all he was a people`s leader and the farmers in his state were in acute distress.
also the elections were on next year and he could not afford the farmers ire.

so he called his officials and said` go out and show the farmers that the state cares`.

the officials scurried back and sweated for days even in their air conditioned offices.they filled in all the relevant data and computed the compensation to be paid to each farmer.

Finally the cheques to be paid to farmers were ready.

one such official left from lucknow in his official jeep in search of a farmer 200 km. away.

after traversing through the dusty by roads of UP , as soon as he entered the farmers hovel, he saw that the farmer was about to consume some insecticide.

the official was very angry` how dare you try to take your life. dont you know the state cares`?

the farmer was nonplussed seeing the mighty official.
he could not offer him food for he had none.

the official waved his hand` i have come to help you, after all the state cares`.

the farmer knew this was an opportunity to let the state know of his problems.
he recounted the lack of irrigation facilities in the village.

the official said benignly` dont worry the state cares`

`the drought has made us paupers`

`dont worry the state cares`

`the lands have become barren`

the official was becoming a little weary
`the state cares`

`whatever little we grow , the minimum support price is less than our cost of production`.

the official knew he was dealing with ignorant folks.
` dont worry the state cares`.

`the banks dont give us loans for seeds or fertilizers`

by now the official was angry and knew the time had come to shut the farmer up. he whipped out the cheque from his official bag and handed it over to the farmer.

the farmer was ecstatic.

the official came back to lucknow and reported to mulayam ,`the message had gone across to farmers that the state cares`.

the farmer still has nothing to eat. but the cheque takes pride of place in his hovel. it is a cheque for rs. 3 and it costs him rs.7 by bus to go to the nearest bank which is 25 km. away.
but he is happy. for at least he knows,

`the state cares`



bobby parvez

today`s new age capitalists like the ambanis are very happy. the economy is looking up. the growth rate is set to rise further even from 8%. the companies quarter on quarter profits are steadily rising.

In all this just a little pause. Gandhi ji when asked whether he disagreed with capitalism, remarked that people who have a genius to make money, should be encouraged to do their job, but they should plough back a substantial amount of their earning into society.

these new age capitalists, as far as my knowledge goes, have failed completely on this front. ms. ambanis, whose husbands empire run into 1000`s of crores, one runs a school for rich kids with lakhs of rupees as fees, while the other promotes art events.

beyond a point money, other than giving a feeling of power, loses all value. but i think the ambanis and other present day capitalists neither have the world view nor the sensibilities to part with a little of their money.

their greed knows no bounds. and their foolishness. for it is their foolishness in not ploughing back into society a little bit of their money, that will set the tide against capitalism and sound it`s death knell. and then they will rant and rave and shout and complain and protest.

but then they will have nobody to blame but themselves.

bobby parvez