One of our family friends, a middle-aged lady told us about one of her nephews working in an MNC in Mumbai.
She said, “Loratue bhal sakori etai pale MNC etat. Kintu Mumbai-t ghoror bhaara iman besi je tar khaboloie nujure besera. He biyau koraise, kintu poisar bor natoni. Tar maa-ke upai nepai tar Mumbai-r ghoror bhaara tu dibo lage. Ajikalir lora-suali oti durbhogiya.”
… This meant, “The guy got a good job in an MNC in Mumbai. But the rents there are so high that, his salary strains to cover the expenses. If he pays the rent, there is hardly enough left to eat. So his mother pays his rent. The present generation’s youngsters are very hapless.”
This fact is the bitter truth for most of the people working in the country today. The company might pay enough. But not enough to pay the unnaturally high house rents in the metro cities today.
If we look at the developed countries, the comparison points out very clearly that this imbalance between the pay-scale and living cost in our country is one of the biggest drawbacks. With the rise in populi and demand for houses, it is easy for landlords to increase the rents but, what about the people working in companies and firms for a living?
Let us take another example. In Delhi, the capital of India, a student who does not get a seat in a hostel of Delhi University has to stay in paying guest houses (PGs). One would not find anything less than 4,000; that too for shared rooms and bathrooms and non-ac rooms. A single ac room would cost anything between 12,000 to 25,000. If a student has to pay that much while studying just for rent (food charges, transportation and ac bill are extra), one can imagine how drastically difficult it is for middle class parents to support their children!
It is the duty of the government to ensure the well-being of it’s younger generation as, the they are future of the country. But who would care about such issues when they can earn some extra crores through corruption. Had the government taken measures to regulate the level of rent increase, such problems would never have arisen.
No wonder the future of our country on its apparent way to being a “developed” country is dark; and whether it would ever be “developed” in the true sense of the term is utterly doubtful.