Afghanistan-Limited Reappraisal


beer, cigarettes, leather cloth, linoleum, biscuits and baby food, leather footwear, polythelene, synthetic rubber, polyester filament yarn, synthetic detergents, tooth paste and tooth powder, refrigerators and airconditions and household electrical appliances. Even in an otherwise dismal year for industrial output, these industries continued their onward march. These industries have been able to consistently notch up rates of growth very much higher than those of the industrial sector as a whole because they cater to the creature comforts of the rich and the relatively well-to-do who, with the rapid growth of their incomes and purchasing power, have been able to command larger and larger production of these items year after year. Shortages of power or coal or transport, while they may cripple critical sectors of the economy, are not allowed to interfere with this process. Rain or shine, life for the few must get better and better.