Everyone who owns a bike or car would be cribbing and crying about the increased fuel hike by the central Government, as that's the only thing we can do in a "pseudo" democracy like India.
And, before someone reaches a conclusion that I am a socialist or communist, I would like to reiterate my strong belief in a capitalistic economy, and strongly advocate the philosophy that 'A government has no business, to do business'.
I believe a free market economy is the best way ahead in the world we live in, and controlled economies are bound to fail someday or another.
Probably someone who did not read the news yesterday would have woken up to the harsh reality that petrol, diesel, Kerosene and LPG prices have shot up exorbitantly.
You can find the statistics everywhere, so don't bother looking here about the percentages.
I just wish to share my anguish and my opinions on some facts that would make us ponder awhile.
We as citizens of this nation are collectively passive.
I would probably say something is wrong with the 'wiring' inside our heads, or maybe with passing days something is getting wrong with the 'wiring'.
Even if the fuel hike was doubled overnight, we would still end up using our cars and bikes to work and we would still choose private transport as that is way more comfortable than our 'government' run bus services or trains services.
At least we have a choice now with Airways to choose a private carrier than the good for nothing Air India; a perfect example that ' Government has no business to do business'.
I remember when I travelled to America long ago, where fuel prices changed everyday, sometimes downwards and sometimes upwards.
When Crude oil shot up to about 120 dollars, gasoline prices a gallon shot up as high as $ 4.
591 per gallon, which equates to about 54 Rupees, which is India's current petrol price when Crude oil is nowhere close to its life high.
So what kind of deregulation are we talking about? I do agree that USA probably produces a lot more crude oil, has greater bargaining capability with the OPEC nations etc.
But, the current fuel prices in India after the hike show that fuel in India is costlier than USA by at least a whopping 40-70%, depending on the location you choose to compare within USA.
And, another fallacy with this policy is that, while in USA the prices are transparent for the citizens to see on a day on day basis, we would get a raw deal, where prices only would keep going up and rarely come down, even after de-regularization! Well, when you compare the prices in India with those in Europe, you could sleep better as the prices are about 50-100% higher than what we get in India.
Countries like France charge as high as 70% as duties on petroleum products, while the same in USA is lower.
And, the Indian government seems to drawing inspiration from Europe instead of drawing inspiration from USA.
I would not like to draw a comparison with Europe, where the standard of living, quality of living and the per capital income are extremely high.
You don't get bumpy roads that are ripped apart every other day by rains or by some government organization to lay pipelines.
Nor do you have road repairs going on for months and years, gaping potholes that can drown a road roller into it, or open bore-wells that can swallow live human beings.
Do you realize the amount of fuel that goes down the drain when you brake incessantly on ripped apart Indian roads, or when you drive on lower gears for long duration! If the government can't control the fuel price, nor drive our car, it should neither lay our roads, which are built by its 'chamcha' contractors, who care a damn about the quality of the construction and live on the pennies paid as taxes, by our sweat, toil and blood.
Again, government has no business to do business.
If the government wants to charge as high taxes as in Europe, I think we deserve as good a life as one gets in Europe! If we pay taxes at par with Europe, we deserve to have better roads, well connected public transport systems that would reduce the burden of fuel price increases, we deserve better opportunities to earn more and better accountable governments.
Another baffling example of price regulation gone hay-way is with Alcohol price regulation.
Did you know it was 'supposedly' illegal to buy alcohol in a state that charges lower excise duties and bring it to states that charge higher alcohol duties! You can be penalized for the same, and would you bother arguing with a police officer who just wants some quick cash! The average price of alcohol in Andhra Pradesh is about 100% the price in Goa.
The reason I chose to compare alcohol is because both the demand for both alcohol and fuel is very price inelastic.
That would mean that unless a significant price change happens in the product, the demand would not change for the same.
Hence, by charging hefty duties and taxes, the state and central governments are merely depicting their incapability to generate income, except by slapping taxes and duties on the end user on products that are insensitive to price hikes.
Don't be surprised to see a whopping increase in the duties on medicines soon.
After all, medicines are price inelastic too! Instead of creating opportunities for growth in the economy, like how China does, if by charging higher duties our government compares itself with Europe, we're living in fool's paradise.
I do not believe in subsidies, reservations and any such government populist measures.
If we need to de-regulate fuel, we need to have a holistic approach in identifying all the populist measures that are redundant and adverse to the very objective they were meant for.
Ambedkar wanted reservations for the socially backward castes and groups for a decade or two.
Does the government dare deregulating the reservation system on the basis of a person's caste or religion! 74% of Tamilnadu's population falls under some some backward caste or another.
Can we hence reach a conclusion that Tamilnadu is a backward state? I seriously have a problem when my hard earned money goes down the drain for subsidizing an undeserving 'backward caste' student's education, or for filling the coffers of some 'chamcha' contractor who does not bother to lay a road properly with my money, or for an election driven subsidy that merely is populist and not pragmatic.
The government could have absorbed most of the rise in fuel by reducing its duties, but unfortunately it needs to feed all these other populist subsidies and hence the fuel hike.
And, the nail in the coffin is that the price de-regularization is being contemplated when the economy is just recovering from a severe recession, with food inflation staggeringly high! Imagine what would happen to the already sky rocketed prices of food supplies, caused due to mismanagement again by the government and a bad monsoon the past few years.
It's a pity that we have to live with this government for the next three odd years, and the possible replacement (i don't find any) is even more frightening.
Since we are a tolerant and passive collective group of citizens, I'd go back do my training, while you'd go back and do your software job.
Even if we are taxed for the inefficiency in production and management costs by our so called 'Navratnas', even if our government does not build roads properly, even if our government increases prices without reducing its taxes, we will shut out mouths and crib and cry.
Maybe, a few fools like me will write and show their anguish, a few idiots would go on the streets of Kolkata and shout at the injustice, while the balance 99% of us would sit cribbing and crying and do nothing about it.
I read recently a quote of the great Che Guevara..
"Better to die standing, than to live on your knees".
Maybe we as a nation need to wake up and stand up!