The glaring difference between UPA I and II is that both Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi are alive to the ground realities then which helped them form UPA II. But the social and economic inclusiveness generated by UPA-I's policies are evaporating fast with both the government and the party bowing too much to pressures from industry and the urban elite. Unless the Congress president steers the ship with bold decisions on price rice, stops attempts at tinkering with meaningful programmes such as MNREGS and the RTI Act, and shows seriousness in rooting out corruption quickly, UPA-II may sink.
D. Davidson,
Tiruchi
People are continuing to pay the price for electing the UPA for a second time. Already the galloping food prices have left the weaker and lower middle income class in despair. There is a Union Minister to push up commodity prices by ‘timing' his speech and he says if sugar is costly, then people can reduce consumption. It is true that oil marketing companies are facing losses, but petrol and diesel prices are hiked just by the flip of a coin. Is this aam aadmi agenda? The once touted achievement of MNREGS is now mired in corruption.
V.R Sriram,
Chennai
