Open any pink daily and you are certain to read about the return of the "feel-good factor". Turn on the television set and watch your favourite earnest analyst talk about how the worst is over, how stockmarket indices have bottomed out. Finance Minister Jaswant Singh can be excused for enhancing the euphoria by expressing his desire to put money in the pocket of the housewife -- after all, he is paid to be optimistic. The World Economic Forum says India is good news all over again. Forget those cussed cynics who claimed the country’s economy always had a glorious past, an even more glorious future and that it was just the present that was lousy. Milk and honey are about to start flowing. Uncork the bottle of wine. It’s party time. This time there are no broken glasses to be picked up and no puke in the loo to be cleaned.

The 1991 census said 52 per cent of Indians are literate. Ten years later, the literacy rate had gone up to nearly two-third. The annual rate of growth of population came down from 2.2 per cent to 1.9 per cent in this decade and demographers contend that this rate would decline further to 1.5 per cent. Our food and forex reserves are at record levels. The inflation monster is fast asleep. Exports are growing. Gross domestic product increased by 6 per cent between April and June. That is, before the drought spoilt it all. Still, with a 4-5 per cent gdp growth rate, we would be the fastest growing nation on earth after China. fiis have returned to the bourses and exchange controls are being relaxed. The Global Competitiveness Report has upped India’s rank from 57 to 48. Applause! What’s more, Yashwant Sinha, that menace of the middle class, is now safely ensconced in South Block. What me worry?

For the first time in the history of independent India, the fci godowns are stocked with more than 60 million tonnes of wheat and rice. Rats and rodents are having a feast. You can ignore a few poor villagers in remote Kalahandi. After all, the media needs sensational stories. What starvation deaths are you talking about? Let’s hear what the real issue is from Agriculture Minister Ajit Singh: "We have to accept that the pds (public distribution system) is collapsing. In many areas, especially tribal ones, (food) is just not going to the people it is meant for."

Blame it on Lord Indra. Rainfall during July was the lowest in more than a century. Foodgrain output during the kharif season might drop by nearly a fifth. Less income in the hands of farmers means lower demand for manufactured products. Nevertheless, the manufacturing sector could still grow by 6 per cent during the current financial year. Jog your memory -- industrial production had grown by 13 per cent in 1995-96 and by more than 9 per cent the year before that. An important reason why inflation is at its lowest since 1974-75 is the demand recession in segments of the economy. As for stockmarket indices, these haven’t changed that much over the last 12 years. Remember the three-year high of the Sensex? It was 6,150.7 on February 14, 2000.

Interest rates have come down significantly. How come investments aren’t picking up? As for state government finances, the less said the better. Is the buoyancy in income tax collections anecdotal evidence of Indian society becoming more unequal? In any case, less than 3 per cent of this nation of more than a billion people actually pays income tax and those who do, don’t really have much of choice because they are salaried wage earners. Why do you think I’m cribbing?

The author is Director, School Convergence @ International Management Institute, New Delhi, and a journalist with over 25 years of experience in print, Internet, radio and television. He can be contacted at paranjoy@yahoo.com.