Noted economist, columnist and corporate consultant S. Gurumurthy on Sunday said that family, community culture and tradition were the backbone of a healthy economy.
Speaking at the Industrial Trade Conference organised by the Sourashtra Chamber of Commerce, Mr. Gurumurthy flayed modern economic policies and alleged that they were formulated to confound the independent financial savings of the families. “The savings of the families alone accounted to 19 per cent out of the 23 per cent of the entire country’s savings in 1991. The modern economic policies were formulated to encourage excessive consumerism and weaken the independent savings of the families. But the independent family savings have increased to 29 per cent and the country’s savings to 37 per cent now, thanks to active family savings,” Mr. Gurumurthy said.
He said the US had become the highest borrower owing to its government’s wrongly formulated economic policies which encouraged lavish spending and use of credit cards. “America was culturally denigrated by its government. About 41 per cent of children are born to single mothers in America and the divorce rate is high among married couples. The financial savings of the families in America were confounded, because of which they became dependent on government,” he said.
Mr. Gurumurthy further claimed that India was a nation with the lowest record of crime, according to an UN report. “There are 6.6 lakh villages and cities in India, but only 12,800 police stations. Communities play a major role in raising children in India. We should think of protecting the communities”, he said.
He criticised the media for creating a wrong impression about the communities, crime rate and various other aspects of the nation. “Media portrays India as a nation with a despicable crime rate, which is untrue. The Indian Railway transports a number equivalent to the total population of Australia every day. The media seldom appreciates this service. Indian postal service is the cheapest in the world, but that is not lauded,” he pointed out.
