Economy Sails, Poverty Wails

The frontpage juxtaposition of the news regarding a mother selling her daughter to flesh traders, with the illustrated news of Vijay Mallya flaunting his new yatch, is striking. The picture of abject poverty, when fitted alongside one of immesurable wealth, in the same country, at the period of time, shocks one and all with a long-reverberating jarring note. The economic disparity in the country is far from obliteration even after nearly six decades of official political independence. A pro-socialistic economy heading towards capitalism, where the gloomy aspects of both the economic systems have been retained, has not helped the cause of a welfare state, where now economic inequality is the order of the day.