The fiction about fact

The premise of ‘post-truth’ seems to be that emotions and beliefs have become more important and facts have taken a back seat. But hasn’t it always been so?

C R Sasikumar world of their own. However, pinning this all on social media and covert digital cells, or narrowing it to the ruling party and people in power, will be myopic. Something organic is at play too. For there is social media and there is social change.

Call and react to it by any name. Change there is. Rather than lament, we need to hear, acknowledge and address it.

The issues being raised should not once again be dismissed as the cultural issues of the cattle class or politically motivated, and have their shortcomings flung on their faces or branded as lies. We should dig deep to understand and question that if a lie has resonated, is it because it reflects a certain truth? It’s critical that a culturally acceptable and cohesive platform to table these issues is created by reaching out and listening. Some issues may be found frivolous as expected, and some others, unexpectedly, logical and real. Violence needs to be condemned absolutely, but the chapter doesn’t close there. The reasons behind the tipping point ought to be identified. People should be encouraged to bring forth issues rather than meted a dismissal, in turn generating a feeling that the only way to be heard is a street fight, or an “andolan”.

We need a more compassionate society that can acknowledge its lapses and come to terms with having to mend fences rather than create more “us versus those” narratives. The ones exposed to a more global worldview should be open to dialogue with those with a varied logic and thought and didn’t have the opportunity that the privileged had. As far as truth goes, we must acknowledge that different perspectives will produce different views or interpretations. But this may be the silver lining in this world of hyper-connectivity, wherein we can see these perspectives, these shafts of lights, falling from different directions. They will only make the object clearer.

To go into a shell or be swept up in change, is perhaps easier, it is more difficult to steer to a direction where the light of hope resides. Personally, I will try for the latter. It’s not the time to rail against “the other” and lament about post-truth, it’s time to acknowledge the current, larger reality and make a new beginning.

Joshi is a poet, screen-writer and communication specialist THE GOAL OF garibi mukt Bharat is at the core of the Union budget 2017/2018. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s fourth budget attempts to ensure that the fruits of economic progress are distributed equitably amongst all sections of society.

The global economy is facing serious challenges and most developed nations are in the throes of economic crises. The economic uncertainty in the US, Brexit and movements within multilateral trade platforms are some of the game-changers that can alter the global economic landscape. The world over, communities that were neglected are questioning existing economic paradigms. Globalisation is no longer considered empowering and nations have started looking inwards. Economic growth based on transnational services and international migration is witnessing a reversal and the global investment climate is not warm. The Indian economy and the Union budget could not have remained immune to these factors. Global trends had to be taken into account while deciding the direction of the Indian economy. The budget has done so in a commendable manner.

The most important aspect of the budget is that it pegged the fiscal deficit at 3.2 per cent of the GDP. The FM has set a target to keep the fiscal deficit 3.2 per cent — and not 3 per cent — to provide for “higher public expenditure in the context of sluggish private sector investment and slow growth”. He has wisely preferred fiscal prudence and maintained discipline — an extraordinary step that even political adversaries have appreciated. The government has thus sent the right signals — of a stable policy environment — to both domestic and international players and boosted the confidence of overseas investors.

The budget has also addressed the impact of demonetisation and the GST roll out. Without follow-up measures, the objectives of demonetisation will not be achieved. In the war on black money, bringing the informal sector into formal processes and plugging the sources of black money generation are important. Budget 2017 has initiated steps in this regard.

The thrust given to the farm sector has ensured that agricultural growth does not lose momentum and maintains the 4.1 per cent level. Farmers will have ease access to credit. The outlay for agriculture has been increased by 24 per cent in the fiscal year 2017/2018. A special support of Rs 1,900 crore has been announced to bring cooperative banks into the ambit of the core banking structure. A micro-irrigation fund and a dairy development fund will be set up under NABARD with a corpus of Rs 5,000 crore and Rs 8,000 crore respectively. The move is expected to make credit easily available to small and marginal farmers.