Like the television ad for the Nissan Sunny that describes it as not just a car but a CAAAR, the economic slowdown reflected in the GDP data released by the Central Statistical Organisation (CSO) last Thursday is best described as not just a slowdown but a slooowdown - and of mega proportions. Not only has growth dipped to a nine-year low, but every quarter of 2011-12 was worse than the comparable quarter of the previous year.May has been a cruel month with the rupee testing new lows against the dollar, the sharpest-ever increase in petrol prices and inflation showing no sign of easing. But the cruellest blow of all came on the last day when the CSO announced dismal GDP growth numbers for the last quarter of 2011-12. At 5.3%, the 32-quarter low dragged annual GDP growth to 6.5%, the lowest since 2002-03 (a drought year) when GDP fell to 4.1%.Disaggregated numbers offer little comfort. With the exception of the electricity, gas and water supply sector that grew 7.9% in 2011-12 compared to 3.0% in 2010-11 and community, social and personal services, where growth was marginally higher in 2011-12, every other sector grew at a slower pace in 2011-12.The decline is particularly marked in the case of agriculture, mining and quarrying and manufacturing. While the decline in agriculture can be attributed to the high base of the previous year, even that fig leaf of comfort is not available in the case of the other two sectors.The slowdown in manufacturing to 2.5% for the year, compared to 7.6% for the previous year, is particularly worrying. The reason is simple. Today, we have more than 60% of the population dependant on agriculture even as the share of agriculture in the GDP pie is shrinking.Inevitably, this has given rise to huge social tensions, stretching the social fabric dangerously thin in vast tracts of the country. It is naive to believe the spreading red belt in central India has nothing to do the inequity in the growth process unleashed post-reform and the government's inability to ensure better distribution of the fruits of growth.Rapid growth in manufacturing sector could be an answer if it is able to provide jobs and ease the pressure on land. But if manufacturing fails to grow and provide jobs, as seems to be happening now, the existing imbalance between the sectoral share of agriculture in GDP and the percentage of the population dependent on it will not only continue but will worsen with serious economic, social and political consequences.Mining and quarrying is another sector where, given our mineral wealth, we should be able to show strong growth. Yet, thanks to the endless delays - the Posco project for which the MoU was signed in 2005 is yet to take off - output in this sector actually declined compared to the previous year. So, against a 5% growth in the previous year, growth in this sector was a negative 0.9% in 2011-12.An analysis of the quarterly growth numbers is just as disturbing. GDP growth rate in every quarter of 2011-12 was lower than in the comparable quarter of the previous year, with the decline becoming progressively worse. Thus, GDP growth in the fourth quarter of 2011-12 was almost 50% lower than in the fourth quarter of 2010-11. If that trend continues, the signs are ominous indeed.The only hope is that these dismal numbers might shake the government from its stupor. After all, we have a long tradition of acting only when we have our backs against the wall. But judging by the FM's reaction to the GDP data, that is a forlorn hope.Instead of the mea culpa that he owed the nation, given that many of our present woes are the direct consequence of government's sins of omission and commission, the FM urged that the 'disappointing' numbers be seen in the 'light of overall global developments'.Far from admitting that one of the main reasons for the current slowdown is policy paralysis, he listed "tight monetary policy that led to a significant rise in the interest costs and weak global sentiments" as having affected growth in domestic private investment. Never mind that monetary tightening was necessitated largely by government's refusal to pull its weight and keep the fisc in check.Not that any of this makes much difference now. The reality is that unlike in the period immediately after the Lehman Brothers crisis when the government could unleash the ultimate weapon of a massive fiscal stimulus and the Reserve Bank of India could follow suit with monetary easing, there's not much either can do by way of a quick fix. The fiscal deficit is already much too high at 5.9% and inflation is once again over 10%.The slowdown, moreover, is no temporary blip. Eight infrastructure sectors, with a weight of 37.9% in the index of industrial production, grew a mere 2.2% in April 2012 against 4.2% in the same month last year, suggesting the slowdown is here to stay.Policy measures like opening up FDI, even assuming they are forthcoming, will not have immediate effect. Nor will cosmetic expenditure cuts. To put it bluntly, the government has shot itself in the foot and there's little it can do to reverse the downturn overnight.More so since global cues are also adverse! But it can lay the foundation for a revival over the medium to long term by taking tough decisions such as scrapping subsidies on all oil products, not just petrol, by doing away with policy flip-flop as in the case of telecom and, most important of all, the Prime Minister showing he is in charge instead of looking lost in a floundering ship of state. "The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars but in ourselves"!