Setting up of a major industry will spawn many ancillary industries and services thus creating indirect employment and incomes. This everyone knows. What is the big deal about it?
Elections are big business. Thousands of crores are spent on them - officially and otherwise. White and black.
I dont know what is the budget of our Election Commission for the conduct of the ensuing elections. Manpower, security, logistics, transport, and other heads must be burning a hole in the pocket of our government, But that is the price well paid for the dance of democracy.
Political parties, contestents, their well wishers, companies incur mind boggling expenses, which mercifully are not all revealed in the expense account to save the election commission and income tax people from head reeling.
In this context one interesting nugget reported in a vernacular daily set me thinking. The expenditure incurred and incomes derived on a higher plane.
It seems the expenditure incurred on soothsayers, special pujas conducted, propiation of Gods of multi religions, etc during the current elections is said to be to the tune of 500 to 600 crores. There are about 62 types of 'homa's exclusively meant to ensure electoral success each costing 40-50 lakhs it seems. If the report is correct, there is one particular Astrolger in Bangalore engaging the services of about 500 Purohits busy ensuring the success of all the candidates. It appears he has also outsourced the heavy workload to 300 Namboodris from Kerala!
If a fundmentalist cancidate say from BJP or Muslim League or Akali Dal incurs less expenditure on one God only, Secularists like Communists or Congressmen have to incur more expenditure on all Gods! See same candidate visiting temple, Dargah, Church and making offerings. Secularism is indeed costly business. Only the very rich can afford it.
In addition, there are resident Brahmacharis and Swamis in each court who don't come cheap. The elections must have also given a boost to our ailing diamond industry with different schools of soothsayers prescribing different precious stones. You find most of the candidates with rings on atleast 8 fingers. Marxist Bengal must be topping the list because there the practice of wearing more than one ring on same finger prevails.
Construction industry also must be making hay when the election sun is shining what with modifications suggested by Vastu and Feng Shui experts.
I dont know what ill effects will result when the Gods of the losing candidates vent their anger. There certainly will be scholarly debates on what went wrong. Wrong stone on index finger or inauspicious time of filing nominations. The soothsayers would have looted and scooted - till next elections. Memory is weak and greed is stronger.
...ponder
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