The Great Indian Tamasha called coalition politics

The Indian democratic fabric has found what is called coalition politics.It all started with the Union Govt of Vajpayeeji which if I remember correctly had 13 coalition partners.He was lucky in the sense that the partners did not pull in different directions.May be it was due to the status of the man that his Govt lasted a full 5 years without any problems except that some parties from Tamil Nadu like DMK who gauged the public mood walked out and joined hands with the Congress party.

The Government of Mr Manmohan Singh should rank as a benchmark for how coalition government should not be.First of all this was a coalition which came to existence after the election results were announced.Suddenly one found the Communists who had fought a bitter election against the Congress joining ther Coalition but supporting the government from outside.The reasoning given by the perpetrators of this hoax was that the Indian People had voted against Communal forces meaning the BJP.I really did not know from where all these parties came to this conclusion.I thought tha people were disgusted and did not bother who ruled them and just voted for somebody awhich unfortunately went against the BJP.The communists are clever guys.They call shots in the Govt without being accountable.Many of the reforms have been thwarted by them.In their state of West Bengal,Buddhadeb Babu can to anything which goes against the spirit of communism.However at the centre,this is not acceptable.Shameless opportunism of the worst kind.At every increase of Petrol prices,they shout from roof tops but the Congress simply ignores them and goes ahead.The congress has realised that the communists can only scream and shout but will not go beyond such gimmicks.If the communists feel aggrieved that the common man is being pushed to the wall,why not simply withdraw the support to the Govt? All the leaders of small parties supporting the coalition be it laloo yadav,paswan,karunanidhi or some body else wants only their pound of flesh and not bothered about what happens to the country in the long run.The quota issue,the stock market scams,oil for food scam,the so called reforms,the perennial price increase in all commodities,the helplessness of senior citizens and people below the poverty line and many other issues makes right thinking citizens of the country wonder as to where this country is heading.The inaction of the Govt has given rise to a hyper active judiciary which apart from its judicial functions needs to do the work of the Executive also.Let us pray that this country gets some good governance.

The stock market in India

The recent ups and downs in the Indian Stock market have been causing concern to people.There have been unexplained bullish and bearish trends in the market.The investors particularly the retail ones are having a real dilemma whether to continue or exit.Mutual funds are reporting heavy exit by retail investors who are fearing the worst.The situation however is not that bad.For those who want to get rich overnight,the stock market may not be the right place at present.However the long term prospects do not envisage any cause for concern.What is happening at present is that the market is in correction mode with the real value of each scrip being decided by the market itself.It makes sense to stay invested for about two to three years so that there is a steady growth in the portfolio.For people who are worried about their investment,it would make sense to invest in the debt instruments.The returns on these instruments may be much less than equities but at least they are not subject to the vagaries of the stock market.It is always better to have a good balance between investment in equities and debt instruments.If high returns are expected have more investment in equities and less in debt instruments.If one needs a safe avenue,put more in debt instruments and less in equities.This is precisely where a mutual fund is beneficial.The fund manager in the fund decides about the optimum investment in both types so that the returns are also decent.The individual is spared the daily agony of going thro the market trends and changing his portfolio to be in line with the trend.However it is wise to be patient while investing with a mutual fund.Do not expect windfalls.The returns will be steady and good.One however needs to choose the fund with care.Do not go by past records only as this is no indication of future performance.A combination of performance,service,history of the fund,the promoters and their reputation in the market would be some yardstick for where to invest.