Guardians Of Piffle: Be Warned! A Section of Western Media’s Gross Dilatory Propaganda (GDP) Is Threatening To Rob India’s GDP Of Its Sheen

Pity that India’s growth story is being eclipsed even as we speak. Yes, with tongue firmly in cheek, India’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has been robbed off its sheen by a section of the Western Media’s Gross Dilatory Propaganda (WM-GDP). What’s worrying is that this WM-GDP is almost totally export led and most of this industrial scale output is being consumed by the bucketloads by unsuspecting Indians. And at the risk of lodging the tongue a little deeper into the recesses of the cheek, it would have to be said that Indian consumers have come to believe that what they are consuming is Real GDP as opposed to Nominal GDP! If there was ever a case of invoking anti-dumping laws this is it.

The problem could have been happily ignored had the manufacturers not purported to be reputed brands in themselves. When these “big names” feed the narrative, people, especially Indians who still exalt all things phoren, believe their products to be kosher. And this is why several people, including predatory Opposition politicians, latched on to a Guardian Newspaper report that was rather illogically titled, “Modi builds highways but where are our jobs?”

As if the highways were the work of a legion of apparitions. Or is the Guardian suggesting that even if they were being built by real humans the job of building India was by itself not a fulfilling one? Sure, it’s back breaking work but are we to assume that these toilers get no satisfaction in knowing that their labour is transforming the lives and livelihoods of their fellow citizens? Oh, what contempt this “Guardian” of the working class has for the dignity of labor.

This Guardian newspaper article or should we just brand it a “pyramid of inverted piffle” moaned about how Modi’s 10 years in office have left people poorer at the bottom of the social ladder and richer at the top. That there were no jobs to be had and where there were a few available they weren’t good ones. And as if to anticipate the arguments against the conclusions drawn in their piece the authors implied that the economic data on India’s burgeoning economic growth was dodgy, perhaps even doctored.

It is no one’s argument that the Modi government’s economic record is beyond question. The Prime Minister is the first to say that there’s a lot for him still to do. There’s no arguing that there is inequity in Indian society and some of it is cruel and crushing. But disparity of the kind we witness in India today was evident a century ago in the United States, where the Great Depression scorched the poorest of the poor. Look how far the Americans have come and it was all because of decisive leadership. Which Modi exhibits. Yes, mistakes will be made by him, perhaps the BJP will even be punished for them. But till now a vast number of Indians still trust Modi to deliver on his promises. It’s that trust that keeps the BJP ahead in the electoral race and that trust has been earned, contrary to the “GDP” that the Western Media dumps into India.

Nevertheless, it’s reassuring to note that at the very least the champagne socialists of a section of the Western Media are more ambitious for Indians than Indians were for themselves a little over three decades ago. Then the Congress party with its anti-big business policies pushed millions of Indians into poverty. Of course, the Guardian newspaper forgot to tell you that the alternative to Modi in 2024 – the Congress Party and its ecosystem – hasn’t quite divested itself of its suspicion of big capital and is populistically contemplating frightfully wasteful schemes (tried and thankfully rejected) in the name of re-distributing national wealth.

If the Guardian had any sense of fairness, it would do its own brand and its credibility a big favor by acquainting itself with the facts. Talking of which here are just over 30 headlines it may wish to contemplate.

1. 415 million Indians lifted out of multi-dimensional poverty in 15 years: UNDP report
2. India’s GDP to grow at a rate of 7.2%: IMF
3. India star performer, contributing more than 16% of global growth: IMF
4. India’s economic growth surges, defying global challenges: Asian Development Outlook
5. India’s 8% growth dream within reach through fiscal restraint: Economist Barry Eichengreen
6. India’s economy to grow at 8-8.3% in current fiscal: PHDCCI
7. EPFO net October member additions at 1.53 million
8. Net new women EPFO subscribers addition rises to 28.69 lakh in FY23
9. 5.14 crore person-years of employment every year has been generated since 2014 on an average: SKOCH report
10. Out of 5.14 crore person-years, the government has paid for 1.97 crore person-years of fractional employment as an average per year since 2014: SKOCH report
11. Employment generation totals to 25.2 crore credit-led employment and 19.7 crore person-years of fractional employment every year since 2014: SKOCH report
12. PLI Scheme report card: Production/sales touch Rs 8.61 lakh crore, over 6.78 lakh jobs created
13. Unemployment Rate (UR) in urban areas decreased to 6.7% during January-March 2024 for persons of age 15 years and above: PLFS
14. Female UR decreased to 8.5% in January-March 2024: PLFS
15. Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR) in urban areas shows an increasing trend from 48.5% to 50.2% during January-March 2023 to January-March 2024 respectively for persons of age 15 years and above: PLFS
16. Female Labour Force Participation Rate in urban areas rises to 25.6% during January-March 2024, reflecting Overall Increasing Trend in LFPR: PLFS
17. Increasing Trend in Worker Population Ratio (WPR) for persons of age 15 years and above from 45.2% in January-March 2023 to 46.9% in January-March 2024: PLFS
18. Female Worker Population Ratio in urban areas rises to 23.4% during January-March 2024, reflecting Overall Increasing Trend in WPR: PLFS
19. Number of GST return filers up 65% to 11.3 million in 5 years: Finance ministry
20. Net direct tax collection at Rs 10.64 trillion in Apr-Nov, 58.3 per cent of BE
21. Share of women MSMEs jumps 37% in total MSMEs registered on govt’s Udyam portal
22. Factory output: IIP rises to 16-month high of 11.7% in October
23. Net FDI into India touches 21-month high at 5.9 billion dollars in October
24. India top investment destination as West looks beyond China: UN report
25. India hot investment destination for Western corporate giants: UN report
26. India’s merchandise exports may grow to $500-510 billion in FY 25: FIEO
27. India registers record export at USD 778 billion in 2023-2024
28. Public sector banks total profit jumps 35%, crosses Rs1.4 trillion in FY24
29. Claims paid to farmers under PMFBY against crop damage crosses Rs 1.59 trillion
30. Auto sector shows strong start in FY25, total sales up 25% in April
31. Export of Apple iPhones From India Doubled In Fiscal Year 2023-24:
32. UPI transactions witness meteoric rise from 92 crore to 8,375 crore in just 5 years