We at Calcutta had a Bandh yesterday. And we are having one today. This following long drawn article is for the benefit of everyone in various other parts of India, who despite seeing jumbo growths in confidences and beliefs, as well as positive changes happening around them still never see India growing like it should.
Oh well, the story goes like this. The crude oil prices in the world market have risen to $135 per barrel. First things first.
Oh well, the story goes like this. The crude oil prices in the world market have risen to $135 per barrel. First things first.
1 barrel = 117.347765 litres
Good. I doubt if ANY of you, or the hundreds on news channels that keep chanting that, knew the conversion. Uh well, on to nexts. At Rs.42.9 to per dollar price, that comes to Rs. 5786.1 per barrel of crude oil, which makes it Rs. 49.307 per litre of crude oil world market price. I have not been able to garner what would be the conversion cost per litre of crude oil to petrol and related petroleum products, but I am taking a hefty Rs. 25 per litre of petrol. For a round figure calculation, let us say finished petrol costs Rs. 75 per litre to an Indian Oil company. However, to reach the point of sale, there are various components of transportation as well as sustenance charges. Adding a very pessimistic Rs. 5 per litre gets you to Rs. 80 per litre at your local petrol pump. However, the government (state governments in this case) levy hefty sales taxes - to the tune of upwards of 30% for every litre of petrol sold. Add educational cess of Rupee 1, and other sundry and miscellaneous taxes that the normal middle class junta never gets to know about. Let us take it to a round total of Rs. 100 per litre of petrol.
Now the government has been of the view (or has wanted to portray that it is of the view) that the man on the roads on a vehicle cannot afford Rs. 100 per litre of petrol. Also, that he cannot live without it. And hence, the government has magnanimously provided a subsidy of about 60% of the petrol price. So for every litre of petrol that you buy, in a sense of back pad calculations, you pay Rs.50 to the oil companies, and the government pays the rest of the Rs. 50. Oh, how touching. But where does the government get this money from? Magic concoctions? Not quite, dear taxpayer. The government gets it from you! So in essence, they are just taking your money, so that you can pay for someone else getting his tank full (in a manner of speaking, and of course, vice versa). If this does not sound like the Class 1 textbook description of communism, I am Pehli Class Champu Fail.
A much better and far simpler analysis than I could ever attempt (and it is a must read), by Swaminathan S Anklesaria Aiyar this Sunday in the Sunday Times (Read it here) would prove why the price rise was absolutely essential.
(This blog entry has been on the burner for almost a week now. Am wrapping it up like a Bollywood film where the producer has refused to spend any more, sacked the director, and himself got on to the set to finish shooting for the climax)
The front page article in the Telegraph on 5th of June that has inspired this blogpost can be found here. A few snippets, oh and the rhetoric and the usage of words is as important as the content, so read aloud if you really want to have fun.
So on and so forth. Plenty of entertainment as one can see. Newspapers in Calcutta are better than Filmfare and such. But what was priceless was the conversations happening around paan shops, and small shops in the evening of the first bandh. Lots of mothers and sisters of the ministers of the CPM would perhaps object to their fond remembrance by such a large section of the populace.
Story Summary: What was stunning news is that CPM would have been part of the entire decision making process, it being a part of the government at the center, as well as part of the management of prices via reduction of sales tax, it being the government at the state level as well. Uh, who were they protesting against? And what were they protesting about?
This might have been the only place in the world where the ruling party calls for a protest bandh!
Now the government has been of the view (or has wanted to portray that it is of the view) that the man on the roads on a vehicle cannot afford Rs. 100 per litre of petrol. Also, that he cannot live without it. And hence, the government has magnanimously provided a subsidy of about 60% of the petrol price. So for every litre of petrol that you buy, in a sense of back pad calculations, you pay Rs.50 to the oil companies, and the government pays the rest of the Rs. 50. Oh, how touching. But where does the government get this money from? Magic concoctions? Not quite, dear taxpayer. The government gets it from you! So in essence, they are just taking your money, so that you can pay for someone else getting his tank full (in a manner of speaking, and of course, vice versa). If this does not sound like the Class 1 textbook description of communism, I am Pehli Class Champu Fail.
A much better and far simpler analysis than I could ever attempt (and it is a must read), by Swaminathan S Anklesaria Aiyar this Sunday in the Sunday Times (Read it here) would prove why the price rise was absolutely essential.
(This blog entry has been on the burner for almost a week now. Am wrapping it up like a Bollywood film where the producer has refused to spend any more, sacked the director, and himself got on to the set to finish shooting for the climax)
The front page article in the Telegraph on 5th of June that has inspired this blogpost can be found here. A few snippets, oh and the rhetoric and the usage of words is as important as the content, so read aloud if you really want to have fun.
- The long-feared oil price increase was announced today but the blast from Delhi was outgunned by the boom of twin bandhs in Bengal — and only in Bengal, among the larger states.
-
His (Manmohan Singh's) friend and foe in Bengal were faster on the bandh draw than anyone else. CPM state secretary Biman Bose took about half an hour to declare a 12-hour general strike on Thursday. “We had already indicated that our big decision was coming since the government didn’t pay heed to the Left,” Bose said around 1pm while the price hike became known just before 12.30.
Mamata Banerjee woke up a little late to the hike in Delhi and halt in Calcutta, announcing at 3pm her bandh-for-bandh response even while she described the CPM’s decision as “cheap drama”.
“Sarkare theke CPM jadi bandh dake, amra birodhira ki labenchus chusbo (If the CPM being in government calls a bandh, should we in the Opposition suck lozenges)?” she said.
- The people of Bengal have the choice — shoved down their mouths — of sucking on the double price hike for oil and cooking gas and the double bandh of 12 hours each on consecutive days.
- If the CPM had made up its mind about a bandh even before the price increase was announced, the government led by it had possibly decided on a sales tax reduction in advance too.
- Some political observers, however, believe that the United Progressive Alliance government had announced hikes that were being seen as steep only to keep room for backtracking to an extent. Other than the pressure from the allies, a general election is scheduled in less than a year.
- Don't miss the language in the bottom right two columns.
So on and so forth. Plenty of entertainment as one can see. Newspapers in Calcutta are better than Filmfare and such. But what was priceless was the conversations happening around paan shops, and small shops in the evening of the first bandh. Lots of mothers and sisters of the ministers of the CPM would perhaps object to their fond remembrance by such a large section of the populace.
Story Summary: What was stunning news is that CPM would have been part of the entire decision making process, it being a part of the government at the center, as well as part of the management of prices via reduction of sales tax, it being the government at the state level as well. Uh, who were they protesting against? And what were they protesting about?
This might have been the only place in the world where the ruling party calls for a protest bandh!
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