Demonstranti u Indiji

Širom Indije nastavljeni su protesti protiv naglog skoka cena goriva. Indijski premijer pozvao je političare da manje troše, kako bi novac koji se na taj način uštedi mogao da se iskoristi za pomoć najsiromašnijim slojevima društva. BBC-jev reporter Karišma Vasvani poslala je sledeći izveštaj iz Bombaja:

Čujte prilog

The Indian Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, is calling it a moral duty. He's advised his government ministries to cut costs with the savings going to help the poor. The plan is to cut spending by as much as 1.4 billion dollars. The austerity measures include trimming back on overseas trips by bureaucrats, and a ban on meetings and conferences at five star hotels.

The belt tightening comes as India's government was criticised by voters and opposition parties for raising the price of fuel more than was expected earlier in the week. Angry consumers have taken to the streets in the states of West Bengal and Kerala. Indian TV channels are reporting that protests have also broken out in Tamil Nadu and Indore.

Acknowledging that the fuel price rise was a deeply unpopular move, Indian officials are hoping the austerity measures will signal to voters that the government is doing its part too. The country's governing coalition party faces a number of elections this year and a national one before May next year. Whether India's voters are convinced that the government is sincere will likely be reflected in the polling booth.

Karishma Vaswani, BBC, Mumbai

Čujte reči

a moral duty
moralna obaveza, nešto što se ne čini iz političkih razloga već zato što je "ispravno"

The austerity measures
mere štednje, načini smanjenja troškova

trimming back on overseas trips
smanjenje broja putovanja u inostranstvo

The belt tightening
"stezanje kaiša", štednja novca

taken to the streets
izašli na ulice, počeli javne demonstracije

broken out in
počeo na, izveden na, održan na

a deeply unpopular move
veoma nepopularna odluka, nepopularan potez

doing its part
igrao svoju ulogu, obavljao svoj deo posla

in the polling booth
u rezultatima izbora, na glasačkim mestima