This blog is at best pure grist for the Thought Mill--YOUR thought mill. What you do with that is up to you as an individual. But it is usually the second and further thoughts that do matter more.

Today most of us lead our lives in the fast lane; a lane so fast and dizzying that we hardly have time for thought--any thought. And in the process many admit that they feel 'disconnected' from life and society. Had a little time been devoted to thought, we would have been at least clear-headed about many of the conundrums that rain on us every day. Do share your thoughts, so that this will be a better world some day--sooner than later!

Sunday, May 15, 2011

WHOSE MONEY IS IT ANYWAY ???

Over the past many weeks, our little group had busied itself mainly with just a couple of questions.

Do we need politics, and do we need a government of the kind we have now.

For our close-knit group, mostly of men, living within our limited means was the only way, whether we were retired or about to retire, employees or honest businessmen  (yes, such a tribe do exist in this Mahan Bharat, now better known for its predatory corporates and their cronies for whom dishonesty is the key to success! ) or entrepreneurs. Inflation was very real for us as it squeezed our lives for no fault of ours, and it wouldn't go away despite the admonitions of stalwarts like Pranab Mukherjee or even PM Singh. Nations can easily go into what they term a deficit budget and spend much more than they have. Unfortunately such fiscal magic does not come to bail out the poor man trying to make both ends meet in these hyper-inflationary times.

The above serious questions were triggered mostly by the changing "colour" of recent politics. Gandhiji, as most of us agreed, was perhaps the greatest of politicians. But his type is an extinct breed even in his Congress party, though they took care to wear 'khadi' and the 'Gandhi cap' till recently. Not any longer. In these enlightened and modern times of 'gen text' and social media, khadi has gone God alone knows where. And if anybody wants to have a look at the 'Gandhi cap', s/he could go to Jantar Mantar or wherever else Anna Hazare is --he wears one proudly; and by God, it does suit him! Perhaps it is good that Congress has jettisoned both Gandhi and his cap and khadi at one stroke. But we are likely to agree that politics of the right kind is the fuel that powers any healthy democratic society. But the trouble with today's politics is that it is one hundred per cent party politics --and if you are not a party maniac, there is pretty little for you there.

Now how about governance? Those that are old and experienced will surely know that orderly governance rather than unfettered anarchy is what gives a well-rounded fullness to life. Now what all areas do we need to be governed in as a people? First and foremost, law and order in society; then a happy compromise has to be maintained between the conflicting interests of the billion citizens of this nation, and that calls for some policies that are acceptable to most and that will guarantee the welfare of virtually all. Healthcare and social security/welfare also call for a strong framework of governance. Regulating the economic mechanisms of a teeming nation surely needs perspicacious governance. And, looking outwards, taking care of ourselves and proactively interfacing with the alien nations of today's shrinking world requires great acumen in governance. A closer look would reveal that every collective human activity in society and a nation demands policies of governance which shall put the collective needs and aspirations of its people uppermost.

When you start thinking like that, do we dare to call the bunch of dissembling, opportunistic, arrogant, profiteers manning the machinery of government at the current moment a government? There is likely to be agreement that there need be no great discussion about whose interests they are serving with alacrity at this very moment. The collective citizenry, and their welfare, is far from their minds!

But, just a moment. Who is 'funding' all that tamasha that goes on in the name of government and governance? Who is paying the stratospheric costs of maintaining this expensive bunch of "ministers", whose main job seems to be to minister to the needs of their corporate cronies ? And whose money is being siphoned off when an institution built up as a result of meticulous planning and decades of hard work is "disinvested" in an instant? It is time for us to begin asking that question rather loudly...

Whose money is it anyway?

Handling money with prudence requires fiscal knowledge, experience and integrity--precisely the qualities that we least see in our ministers. The CAG's indictment of the government first on the 2G scam and recently on the Air India scam ( worth about Rs 10,000 crore and surely more, and according to many knowledgeable insiders, the first step in its disinvestment and handing over to a private player who, purely in the interests of National pride probably, is willing to take over a loss-making organization!) makes one thing patently clear--the present crop of ministers should be the ones that we should trust last/least when it comes to handling the tax payer's money.

The last straw was the inordinate hike in fuel prices that came as a post-poll gift to the 'aam aadmi'. According to the oil companies, apparently run by a bunch of retired angels, they are losing about Rs 10 on every litre of fuel sold and yet, they have, in a gesture of love and compassion, hiked the price by only about half of that. Oh, what magnanimity! At this rate, if we are to believe their protestations of loss, they should have gone right under a long time ago. And this country would not have been poorer for that!

What beats all logic is that it is in the midst of this long history of "loss making" that the  oil companies are vying with one another to open another 1,000 fuel outlets in a small state like Kerala. It beats me when it comes to understanding their logic.  Ah, maybe they want to exhaust all their stock and commit "hara-kiri" and die trying their best to help the motorists..like a candle in the wind that burns itself to nothing. Ho, the poor heart bleeds when one thinks of that... No wonder Murli Deora, the former petro minister always wore a pinched look when he was talking about oil companies and fuel prices. Who knows the heartaches of heading a ministry cursed with perpetual losses and perdition??

It is unlikely that many of us saw a small news item in the papers (no, such small stuff is below the "sensation level" of the TV channels) a few days back. The headlines merely notified us that Rs 20,001 crore was being paid to the oil companies as subsidy by the government. Naturally this was to compensate the losses that the companies had run up. This was in addition to the earlier instalment of Rs 20,911 crore, which took the total subsidy for 2010-11 to Rs 40,912 crore. The total loss for last year was, according to the companies, Rs 78,000 crore, and naturally they demanded their pound of flesh by asking the government to cough up another Rs 30,000 crore.  But our beloved government, in a gesture of supportive sympathy to its 'subjects', roundly rejected this demand! What more do you want??!! The figures make for interesting reading -- for those who can understand figures.

But the question that comes to the aam aadmi's mind is, do we trust these guys with such astronomical sums of money? ... our money?? It is a very funny situation. The oil companies import crude, refine and sell it in India for a loss. The government compensates them not fully, but as and how they deem fit, with a subsidy. Both are funded by the tax payer's money-- the public sector oil companies and the government. Now what about all that Indian oil from Indian wells? And who is the loser? And who is the wiser??

Now will somebody tell me how much a litre of fuel will cost if somebody were to import it and sell it like many other imported commodities? I put the question to a few trader friends and they tell me, quoting the prevailing prices, that it should be way cheaper than the price at which we are forced to buy it now. Ah, the taxes, both central and state, on every litre of fuel. What is the tax money on fuel used for? For developing 'infra-structure' in the related fields--that translates as oil wells and refineries, roads, vehicle manufacturing etc etc.

Oh, that means we the tax payers are funding oil exploration, and we own the producing oil wells in India. What returns are we getting for all that "share money" we have pumped into that? Pretty little. The arithmetic of the oil companies become clouded when the question of the quantum/pricing of local crude/refined fuel comes in. But now the trend is for the public sector company to explore and dig productive wells and then give it all away to players like Reliance. Nobody has forgotten the move for handing the Assam refineries to them on a platter by the crony minister. But then the sad truth is that a large percentage of the tax on oil is goes to fund the existence of the top heavy and extravagant "gaddi" of ministers and their coterie.

Those who had been paying some attention to the annual budget for the year would have noticed the crores and crores of corporate subsidies allowed. To what purpose? How does that benefit the 'aam aadmi'? We have to stop this mindless spending of our hard-earned money by an inept bunch of ministers and other functionaries. If oil is to be decontrolled, let it be decontrolled fully so that anybody can buy it for the prevailing international rates and not the "fixed" rates as dictated by the "conglomerate". And whatevery subsidies are given have to be seen to reach and to benefit the end-user. No sir, we dont trust the oil companies, nor our beloved bunch of ministers. So please get off our backs with your complicated fiscal calculations.

In an era when liberalization, globalization and privatization have proved to the bane of the common man in every developing economy, and is seen clearly to favour only the huge corporate players, it is time we asserted ourselves and brought in the necessary changes. Let us keep the CO2 emissions at bay by curtailing oil consumption. Let us develop our public transportation systems which would be mor eficient and cheaper from every angle. And let us see how much oil we have here in our wells, and at what price we can sell that without earning a loss for the public sector firms. Let us ration that fuel so that the public sector and the transportation sector and the public get their due share without driving up inflation. If you want more than your share, you could go for imported fuel at a higher price.

We have to end this conspiracy. They manufacture more cars and drive up the expectations of people with fancy ads. Then they charge you through the nose for the fuel and siphon off our money for their mindless spending and skyhigh profits. Will anybody in their right senses opt for the expense of car and the tedium of traffic jams and gridlock wasting their time, to speak nothing of frayed nerves and health issues breathing in all that pollution, if one had effective public transportation? So whose interests are the government serving with this vicious circle of pricing and increasing demand?

This has got to end.

And the first step in that direction is to make the government sell the product at the correct price and not at an inflated one. The second is to rein in fuel-related inflationary trends by rationing fuel to essential services. The third is to rationalize imports and delink its price from that of the local oil produced.

Enough and more cheating has been going on in this country in the name of many things. A resource-rich country like ours could easily manage itself very well--if we are honest. For Western-educated and western-bribed and western-arm-twisted people like our planner Montek Singh or our PM Singh, this argument may not make much sense. But then on second thoughts it is time we stood up and told them in no uncertain terms that we are not recipients of their charity; rather they are the paid servants of the honest and upright tax-paying people of this country. And we want our country to be run the way WE want.

Sir, it is OUR money, and we guess WE HAVE A SAY in how you spend it for us!

Let us tighten those purse strings a bit and show them who is the boss!

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1 comment:

  1. Gandhi has become a brand name with a low impact factor and people look at that name with a sympathy these days.....and the popular figures are interested in increasing the inflation rate...and these people is NOT having a second thought about the development of the nation or its economy or any kind of welfare, they just makes sure that their needs are met in time.

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