January 27, 2025

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MIDDLE CLASS THE BIG SQUEEZE

Prakash Bhasi, a 54-year-old technician with a packaging company in Mumbai, does not know what to do. Till a couple years back, he had thought the household income of Rs 22 lakh a year would be more than enough to meet the expenses of his three-member family. Yes, he had to pay Rs 45,000 as EMI for the 1BHK apartment he had bought in Navi Mumbai six years ago, and he also sent his elderly parents in Coimbatore Rs 10,000 every month towards their living expenses. But never did he think he would have to dip into his savings. Suddenly, however, Bhasi is beginning to feel the pinch. His expenses have gone up 30 per cent in recent months. "If I go to the local market with Rs 500 in hand, I come back with hardly anything," he rues. Vegetable prices, in particular, have shot up. He goes for the cheapest consumer goods, even if it means buying unbranded stuff. Bhasi has also had to forgo his ambition of buying a new car, intending instead to buy a used one, at half the costBhasi is one of the 570 million Indians who make up India's middle class. New Delhi-based think-tank People Research on India's Consumer Economy (PRICE) categorises them as those households that had an annual income between Rs 5 lakh and Rs 30 lakh if you consider 20202021 prices, or between Rs 6 lakh and 36 lakh if you take current prices. And they are reeling under a triple whammy of high inflation, particularly of food, high taxation and stagnating incomes. "It has now become about subsistence,"

THE ALL-NEW NAVEEN PATNAIK

At 78 years of age, most politicians might gracefully retreat from public life. But not Naveen Patnaik, Odisha's longest- serving chief minister and now leader of the Opposition in the state. The defeat in the 2024 assembly and Lok Sabha elections could well have been the epilogue to his career, but Patnaik is intent on writing a few more chapters. Exhibiting a renewed vigour, he is emerging as a vocal and dynamic political force. CM Patnaik exuded a calm, gentlemanly demeanour in the more than two decades that he was at the helm. Opposition leader Patnaik is a sharper, feistier avatar, unafraid to take direct shots at his political rivals. The latest salvo assailed the Mohan Charan Majhi-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government for the rising prices, labelling it a "double engine, double blow" administrationThe clever potshot came during the Biju Janata Dal's (BJD) first major protest rally in nearly 20 years, held on January 5 near the state legislative assembly. Thousands of supporters gathered, their energy palpable as Patnaik took the stage. For a leader criticised for his detachment in his later years as CM, this marked a dramatic return to grassroots engagement, stirring public discourse. It was a clear signal that Patnaik intends to stay relevant. In that bid, he pledged to educate the two daughters of Sahadev Nayak, a sanitation worker murdered on January 8 before the 18th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas that was held in state capital BhubaneswarThe electoral defeat was a cataclysmic moment for the BJD. For a party that had dominated Odisha's political landscape since 2000, the loss was both shocking and humbling. Reduced to just 51 seats in the 147-member assembly, the BJD also found itself without any representation in the Lok Sabha, throwing it into an existential crisis. Defections only exacerbated the situation, as the party's Rajya Sabha presence was reduced to just seven. The absence of a second-tier leadership to carry forward Patnaik's legacy never appeared so stark. The BJP's rise was swift and aggressive, buoyed by an anti-incumbency wave and questions over the role of Patnaik's trusted aide, V.K. Pandian, whose perceived overreach had caused widespread resentment. Patnaik's reclusive attitude in his last tenure as CM did little to help matters. His health was frequently speculated upon, and his rare public appearances fuelled rumours of waning influence. Even senior party leaders struggled to meet him, while Pandian became the face of the administrationMany saw Patnaik and his party's defeat as the end of the veteran's political journey. But the man who had turned Odisha into a model of disaster resilience and development wasn't ready to bow out just yet. His `resurgence' began almost immediately after the election results were declared in June last year. Emerging from his chambers at Naveen Niwas, his residence in Bhubaneswar, he addressed a despondent crowd of party workers. "We have nothing to be ashamed of," he declared, earning thunderous applause. His message was clear: the fight wasn't overWhat followed surprised both allies and opponents alike. Patnaik's influence was so undeniable that even the BJP's actions seemed to revolve around him. On December 28, just hours after Patnaik announced a visit to Ganjam--his home turf and the state's most populous district--to meet distressed farmers, the BJP scrambled to respond. That same day, a hurriedly written government