Millennials And Math: New Threats To The Indian Economy?
It is no secret now that India's economy is in deep trouble. The GDP is at 5 per cent, the lowest in over six years; auto sales are their lowest in over 20 years; rural wage growth has collapsed to 1 per cent in 2018-19 compared to 15 per cent in 2013-14; while unemployment is at a 45-year-high. But over the last week, much of the news has focused on the dreaded two Ms - Math and Millennials. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the fact that millennials are using car apps like OLA and Uber is the reason car sales are down. She's got a lot of flak for it, simply because the data doesn't match her claims, and then why are truck sales also down? Then Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal said on Thursday how numbers don't matter, "after all Math didn't help Einstein discover gravity", but it did make Mr Goyal trend on Twitter all day. But that's not the point. People make mistakes. Yes, Isaac Newton discovered gravity, not Albert Einstein. But the bigger point is: Is the government taking the economic slowdown as seriously as it should be? Is it time to put partisan politics aside, sit down with someone like Dr Manmohan Singh and try and find solutions?
