A Few Blind Men and the Elephant – Understanding India’s Predicament amidst the Iran War,
Background Opinions about a situation, even the most objective ones, could differ depending on perceptions and purposes. The 19th-century poem "The Blind Men and the Elephant" by American John Godfrey Saxe, published in 1872, illustrates it beautifully. India’s economy, much like the elephant, has many sides to see and even more sides to take. Let me place an elephant before the reader, who has the freedom of choosing inferences. The rupee is sliding, and the price of cooking gas and fuel is climbing. The government says that the economy is in fine shape. The Government in power today is led by the party that held the reins of nationwide protests against the depreciation of the rupee from ₹54.30 on 31 Mar 2013 to ₹59.92 on 31 Mar 2014, a fall of 10.35% {(₹59.92 -₹54.30)/ ₹54.30%}. The rupee breached ₹94 on 31 Mar 2026, recording a 55.21% fall from 2014 levels. In the last 13 years, the rupee has weakened by about 72% against the dollar. Similarly, fu...