The price hike of petrol
- Hueiyen Lanpao Editorial :: May 16 2011 -
IN THE last nine months the price of petrol has been raised nine times. One more is on the cards. This is a phenomenon, a trend, which is beyond the reach of the Government of India.
The fact is, in the global market, the price of crude oil has spiralled up, the fall out is that the poorer countries, the poor and impoverished of the world, have to face miserable times.
It will not just be a rise in the price of fuel but all petroleum based products too will become more expensive. The fact that the world economy has been so badly hit by the rise of crude oil prices has not been understood by most Indians because the Government of India has been highly subsidising the prices of petrol and petroleum based products.
Since the government in the centre cannot afford to spend most of its resources in subsidies it is inevitable that price revisions have to be regularly effected.
The fact that the latest hike in petrol prices, ` 5 per litre, came just after completion of elections in four states in obviously a politically motivated option. But whichsoever party is in power will have to make the same unpopular decisions.
For those political parties who have never had the experience of ruling this country it will be convenient to rail the government for ‘anti people’ policies, but for those who have had the opportunity of governing India it would be wiser not to make any rash comments.
Particularly so, those who aspire India to be a military giant. Huge military expenditure at this stage could result in a pyrrhic victory because in the process they would have impoverished the nation with uncontrollable price rises.
With an increase in fuel prices, commuter fares go up, freight charges go up and prices of essential commodities go up, it is all interdependent.
To put it the context of every day life in Manipur, and that too in the framework of only one activity, monthly fees of school vans will shoot up, and it just might be beyond the reach of many families to send their children to schools by vans.
But what could be the way out? Since India cannot control the pricing of crude oil what is to be done with the lives of hundreds of millions?
Here in Manipur at least, one solution could be to see that the income earning capacity of the people gets enhanced.
The MGNREGS experiment is one avenue that can be utilised to the hilt.
Raise the MGNREGS wages, ask for more funds, these are ideas that the state has already mooted on. And yet this can only be, at best, a temporary solution.
Ultimately we will have to raise a trained work force and go in for manufacturing. Since heavy industries are out of the question we will have to go in for manufacture of precision items which needs the least of metal resources.
* Comments posted by users in this discussion thread and other parts of this site are opinions of the individuals posting them (whose user ID is displayed alongside) and not the views of e-pao.net. We strongly recommend that users exercise responsibility, sensitivity and caution over language while writing your opinions which will be seen and read by other users. Please read a complete Guideline on using comments on this website.