Economic recession hits the poor harder

By Raymond Ronamai *

The world is in turmoil with the economic recession not showing any sign of recovery. The panic started after America's big investment institutions like Lehman brothers, Merrill Lynch and American International Group (AIG) broke down a few months ago.

The American Government has been trying to restore the crisis but not much improvement has been seen so far.

The present economic crisis, which has been termed as the worst since the 1927 Great Depression, has affected the economy world over though the underdeveloped countries have no hand in it. Unfortunately, it has hit the poorer countries harder than the others for the simple reason that a little amount of inflation is enough to drive their everyday lives out of gear.

India is no exception to the economic slowdown and pink slip is the talk of the day. The recent news of the Jet Airways planning to retrench its employees by thousands created panic not only amongst its employees but also amongst the general public. The company rolled back its decision after the government intervened.

Many big IT companies like Wipro, Satyam and Infosys have denied that they have fired its employees though it was reported that they have fired many employees. However, they have confirmed that they would cut down recruitment, signaling that the grey days are ahead.

The decision of the UK-based telecom major British Telecom to cut 10,000 jobs has sent chills down the spine of the public. BT chief executive Ian Livingston has warned that he would slash jobs even further. Citigroup Inc. is the latest victim to the economic slowdown.

It has decided to cut 52, 000 jobs worldwide, out of which around 1000 would be from India. The public fears the worst, as the crisis is not likely to recover soon.

People in the North East India are not immune to all these developments. Being an agrarian economy, Manipur and Nagaland may not be hit as badly as the other states when it comes to food supply but the inflow of income has been distorted like never before, as there are many young people working in various multi-national companies in big cities.

The situation will turn even worse if MNCs start packing up their bases from India. The naked truth is that economic equilibrium is being maintained in states like Manipur and Nagaland because of the youths working in other states.

This is something every responsible citizen should be worried of, as it exposes the frazility of the economy in this part of the country. It also exposes the fact that it is the West, Americans and even developed Indian states that control the flow of income into these states.

The mettle of taking the society forward lies with the educated youths, as the politicians are like logs with indifferent attitude.

Enterpreneurship should be taken up in a big way. It will control brain drain besides generating employment in the region.