Is corruption fuelling inflation in a big way?

It's a volatile time in India.Long before the Ides of March, the weather has been playing a lot of games: it was quiet in parts of Jan. & even early Feb., then came welcome,unexpected rains & hills had snow as had much of the west.Then the Indian stock markets had a bloodbath.It was down 900 points,the Sensex,in four days flat;it was 1,000 points down in Dec. last year.Both times,bulls came aggressively back & have started recovering ground yet once more.

Then the devilish inflation came like a rocket & the rulers are in panic,the inflation refuses to stop even though the

financial wizards of the government & the Reserve Bank have taken a good number of steps.Money has been reduced in the h&s of the banks,interest rates have been raised,traders in food will be denied bank loans to curb hoarding,but will they bother?

But inflation measurements are only wholesale; retail prices can peak to the sky,the rulers count what their statistic jugglers tell them.They want their figures right.It is not only Budget time;it is also election time in four States.The fate of rulers in Punjab, Uttarakhand & Manipur had been decided & Delhi should be decided around Feb. 2008.

U.P. has some time to decide.A new legislature should be in place sometime in May.So elections could be held even in April, if not at the end of March.Gujarat will go to the polls at the end of the year;another highly volatile State where the saffron bunch has to count its chickens before they are hatched.Will the radicals or the hardcore guy make it? Time will tell.But money is the name of the game, whether you will make it with the voter or not,whether you will win or lose.As long as you succeed in the money game, sitting in the Opposition can be quite fun,as the BJP is now thinking with hyper inflation giving sleepless nights to the rulers & they are hoping to cash in on it,cash in on what is called the incumbency factor.

So what is the cause of inflation?Is it worldwide factors? Is it dearer energy,costlier because of the suddenness of the freezing weather?Is it India's globalization & a lot of liberalization moves,going ahead with very few breakers? Are there any other reasons?Is it corruption everywhere?

Veerappa Moily of the recent reservation fame & with his earlier wishes several of the governments are complying by making reservations in educational institutions of higher learning to ensure their job prospects in competition,has now come up with a whole new lot of ideas on how to curb corruption to clean the political & social system?

Corruption is a worldwide phenomenon, but perhaps it is too visible in India, perhaps at too many levels. There is no level of deterrence. Convictions & dismissals are rare, perhaps even suspensions from the workplace.