India’s annual inflation rate continues to be negative week after week!

The government has again reported negative inflation rate for the week ended on 22 August 2009. The inflation rate is based on the Wholesale price index. The government’s view is that the wholesale price index is more closely tracked than consumer-price gauges for economic analysis, as it captures prices of a higher number of products and is released weekly. How the WPI can be negative when the prices of food items at retail level have gone up over 20%?

Union Finance Minister announced that 2004-05 as the base year for the calculation of inflation rate based on wholesale price index (WPI) series in the country. Replying to a question on price indices in the Lok Sabha, the minister said the WPI series is being upgraded with base year 2004-05 in lieu of the existing one with base year 1993-94. He said that the index would provide a better picture of the current scenario of prices.

On the other hand, the consumer price index, which is released on a monthly basis, rose 11.89 percent in July from 9.29 percent in June, as per the government data. The basket in consumer price index measures prices of logically used items by the common man. This index takes into account prices for house rentals, toiletries, phones and school fees.

There are some realistic recommendations made by DNA Analysis, viz., WPI is the least reliable barometer of the price behavior and hence should not be used as a yardstick to express inflation affecting the common man. Consumer price index should be made more comprehensive and should be used, calculated on a monthly basis.

The present arrangement of calculating the inflation rate based on WPI is faulty and should not be used for the calculation of any compensations or allowances.

World Water Crisis

In 1992, the UN General Assembly designated March 22 as "World Water Day" to draw international attention to the critical lack of clean, safe drinking water worldwide. World Water Day is celebrated since 1993. Nearly 1.1 billion people (roughly 20% of the world’s population) lack access to safe drinking water. The lack of clean, safe drinking water is estimated to kill almost 4,500 children per day. Water is essential to the treatment of diseases, something especially critical for children and aged people.

The amount of water in the world is finite. The number of us is growing fast and our water use is growing even faster. This problem isn’t confined to a particular region of the world. A third of the world's population lives in water-stressed countries now. By 2025, this is expected to rise to two-thirds.

The world water crisis is created by a confluence of factors including climate and geography, lack of water systems and infrastructure, and natural and man-made pollution of water resources. The crisis is worst in developing countries, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. Countries depend only on rains for drinking water. The lack of clean water, coupled with the lack of basic sanitation and a dearth of hygiene education, is one of the largest obstacles to progress and development in these regions and across the world. Time has come to use hi-tech for the production of pure drinking water.

Let all the citizens of the world get sensitized about the world water scarcity which may lead to one of the largest public health issues of our time. World media should wake up to this reality.

Save Water. Do not pollute water. Consume less water. Water is precious.