There is no doubt that 11 price hikes in last 12 months has certainly disturbed household budgets of middle and upper middle class in India. In different states and cities petrol price has been increased in the range of 10-12 Rs./ liter after decontrolling it last year.
Today the price of petrol is 73 Rs./ liter and inflation in food prices is above 12%. Although, yet again arrogance of this govt. is quite evident as they don’t want to take any blame for the uproar after recent price hike. The govt. claims to have no control over price hike, however, it is well known that govt. is the major stake holder of petroleum producing companies. The govt. itself seems to be pretty well unorganized as finance minister indicating no control over price, prime minister denying rolling down the recent hike and petroleum companies indicating possible roll down in price hike if the govt. suggests. Even after facing the heat from allies and possibilities of losing support from them, govt. seems to be adamant on the issue.
Every political party wants to take benefit of the situation but no one wants to talk about reducing the heavy tax imposed on petroleum products by central govt. and respective state govt. That should definitely ease some pressure from the back bone of common man. One thing is sure that just like other issues such as curbing food price inflation; this govt. has also failed to take the stock of the situation in this issue. It has failed and disappointed people in a very miserable way through its policies and decision makings.
Anyways, the cry babies of the whole situation may be the petroleum companies, as they don't seem to have problem while distributing handsome dividends to their shareholders. Thus, their claims and reality seems to be contradicting each other. It is important to mention that India imports its approximately 80% of its fuel from OPEC nations, whereas, 20% is produced and refined domestically. Even for the benefit of its own citizens, diplomacy of India doesn’t want to purchase its crude oil from communist country such as Venezuela, which may be ready to provide petroleum at a cheap rate. Obviously, the reason is the influence of USA diplomacy in Indian politics and stronghold of USA in Gulf region!
Let us forget the politics of petroleum price for a while and do some souls search of facts. All of us are very well aware that availability of crude oil is not certain even for this century. Oil producing countries have not updated the figures of their reserves in last 4-5 years. Thus, it is unclear that how much crude oil and natural gas is still available there to be excavated. The search for new reserves is very slow and full of uncertainty and we are yet to find and adopt eco- friendly alternatives for petroleum products.
Although drastic increase of fuel prices in the last year, the number of car buyers are not declining. Even the cheaper alternative of fuel CNG is 50 Rs./ liter now. This may paint a picture that, because of economic growth India has seen in last two decades, the higher fuel prices seem to be constraint for few.
In today’s time where global warming due to burning of fossil fuel and industrialization is widely debated issue, it is a high time that we as an individual start giving in our contributions to reduce the carbon foot print. Using public transport as and when possible, using bicycles or walking to buy groceries from nearby markets and using stairs rather than elevators once in a while are just few of the options we could incorporate into our routine. With the passage of time, these habits would not only save few bucks from your pocket but it will also keep you fit as the physical activity increases. It would also be essential to educate and inspire younger generations by such efforts in order to create environment friendly society which thinks towards saving earth.
Gr88 start dude..Very professional & well researched blog. I guess an alternative career as a journalist is beckoning.
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