The year which has just gone by, would be go down in the economic history as one the worst years. The economic tsunami which the subprime mortgage crisis brought upon the world economy led to a lasting gloom all over the world and affected almost all the countries. Although India somewhat insulated itself from the worst effects of a global slowdown but it has doubtless hurt the prospects of thousands of job aspirants in the IT sector with the US economy gripped by one the formidable crises it ever had to negotiate since the Great Depression in the thirties. While there was large scale unemployment and uncertainties of a recovery, the attendant problems arising out of this unprecedented situation put the normal lives of many out of gear.

In fact there was hardly any sector in the economy that was not battered by the recessionary influence. The small and medium enterprises which accounts for a substantial number of employment generation were in the throes of a very tough situation. A sharp drop in the demands of their products coupled with banks and financial institutions adopting an over cautious approach in disbursal of funds worsened their financial health leading to even closures of some units throwing thousands of employees and workers off their means of livelihood.

Similarly if one looks at the performances of other sectors like tourism, manufacturing and construction and mining there are hardly any reasons to cheer. And all these sectors are substantial contributors to the GDP. Their performances in 2009 took a severe beating although things looked up at the fag end of the year. The enormity of the crisis and its impact might have been modest but this can hardly be a matter for comfort. In a society which is not founded on equity and social justice this kind economic downturn hit the submerged section of it very hard. The intervention of the government and the Reserve of Bank of India did mitigate the situation to an extent and the spill-over effects of the economic melt-down would still be felt in the year 2010 too! A quick recovery is simply not possible.