On travels, I come across many people. Most of them are ordinary people like you and me. Nothing special about us. Just trying to make a decent living by taking care of our responsibilities.
This taxi driver Sandeep Yadav dropped me at the airport at 6am. He was a nice fellow and we talked.
Last 4 months business has been down. From an average of 10000 km of driving every month, it’s down to less than 3000 km a month.
Not that he alone feels this but his friends too are facing similar situations.
Excessive rains in the hills, water logging in Delhi, and communal violence in Mewat, all affect his business adversely.
Most of the time we treat such news as trivial and temporary and seldom pay attention. For those who have to make a daily living, these things matter.
Financial reports indicate higher tax collections, higher per capita earnings, a better economy than many countries in the world, etc. Then why people like Sandeep Yadav are not benefitted.
In financial reports, we get lost in the financial jargon of tax collections, ratios, share markets, currency markets, etc. In these figures, we sometimes lose the sensitivity to what a common man is feeling.
Economy and growth are not about growth in financial figures alone. It’s about how a common man feels. Is he feeling secure, is he exuberant, is there a feeling of joy is he looking forward to the next day. If the answer is yes then the economy is inclusive. If the answer is otherwise then maybe we have got it wrong.
It may be a challenge to find out metrics that reflect the sentiments of a common man, but if we can do so, we will get a true reflection of in which direction the country is growing. When Bhutan can measure the happiness index of its people, maybe we can find out something similar for our country too.