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All the disturbing features of our socio-economic situation seen over the last 15 years and highlighted in earlier editions of Alternative Economic Survey are now reaching even more alarming proportions.  The tendency to cover up the harsh reality and present a misleading picture by deploying newer terminology and selectively chosen and often fudged data in addition to the age-old use of hyperboles are being continued with added force. As in the past, this 13th edition of AES tries to provide a balanced picture in terms of well-established development and socio-economic theories, sound logic and impeccable facts drawn from authentic and authoritative sources.  The much trumpeted acceleration in the GDP growth rate is found to be accompanied by its increasing irrelevance for the aam adami (Common Man) and negative externalities for the country as a whole and also for future generations.  It is the persistence and, indeed, intensification of these kinds of challenges that impels us to bring out how disempowerment of the masses is the real objective of the economic reforms programme.