RAVI  NEEDS  OUR   HELP  AND  SUPPORT

SRB

Ravi is a common man, intelligent and educated. He is proud to be an Indian and has great respect for Mahatma Gandhi, the Father of our Nation, and his philosophy. He has genuine concern for aam admi.

Ravi was keen to meet fellow Indians living in other parts of his beloved country, experience the delight in mingling with other cultures and enjoy the varied beauty of Nature. So he decided to travel to other states.

He started with a bus journey. He was to reach his destination by next morning. So, he woke up at dawn and was looking out of the bus window to find out where he was. But all the signboards he passed were in a script that he could not understand. He reminded the conductor about his destination and had a shock when he was told that he had passed it. The conductor told him by which bus he could get back to his destination. Ravi got down and waited. He stopped each bus that came by because he could not read the signboards on these buses, which were written in a script unknown to him. The bus conductors shouted at him for not looking at the signboard and wasting their time. The passengers in these buses and those waiting with him mistook him for an illiterate villager and laughed with contempt. He felt ashamed and lost in his own country. Ultimately, he got into the proper bus and got down at his destination with help from a co-passenger. He looked around for a place to eat. A kind gentleman gave the name of a hotel and the road in which it is located. But all road names and signboards were in an unknown script and he again felt lost in his own country, besides feeling very hungry. He could not do anything without help from others! Even this posed problems because only few could understand him. He continued to have such problems and frustrations wherever he went, in his own country.

During his travels through many states, Ravi felt unhappy when he saw vast expanses of wasteland after wasteland. Being idealistic, he decided to buy some wasteland and develop it as a model farm to demonstrate use of waste lands. The sale deed was in an unknown script and he had to seek help to check whether his name, area of land bought, survey number and other important details were correctly mentioned in the sale deed. He went to a bank to take a loan for developing his land and was asked to sign some forms in a language that he could not read.  When he went to the post office to authorize his local manager to receive mails in his name, he was asked to sign a form that he could not read. He had similar difficulties in many other offices also. When he sent his man to buy things, he returned with a cash bill that he could not read. He had to face many such problems of different types. Then he decided to learn the local language. Being intelligent and observant, he realized that learning the script was the most difficult and uninteresting part of learning another language. After learning the script, it was not difficult to attain a working knowledge of any language.

After he learnt the script of the local language, most of his difficulties were over. He could read and understand names of places, things, cash bills etc. of common use, even without mastering the language. But, there are so many Indian languages! How many language scripts could he (or any Indian) learn? It dawned on him that these problems could be solved if we have a common script for all Indian languages. How helpful it will be for all Indians! Any Indian can then travel around his country and manage day-to-day requirements, without much difficulty and need not feel ashamed and lost in his own country. A national script will also make it easier for any Indian to learn other Indian languages. After all, a script is only a means to convey ideas and the richness of literature of any language can be enjoyed even when it is written (rewritten) in a national script.

Not being selfish, he wanted to find out whether having a national script will cause problems for others. He contacted a learned professor, who was known to be progressive minded. The latter was full of admiration for Ravi who came to him with a pragmatic solution to the difficulties faced by many Indians and who was deeply concerned to know whether his solution will create problems for others. He told Ravi that out of the total population of 1,027 millions in 2001, only about 562 millions, who were literate, have to learn the new national script also. But, this will not be a vain sacrifice even for them because they will benefit a lot by learning a script used by all languages, as explained earlier. On the other hand, there were 465 million persons who were yet to learn any script. Further, about 220 millions would have been added by now and every year about 20 millions more will be added. Thus, an enormous number of present and future Indians would have to start learning a script for the first time, in any case. For them, learning a national script (used by all languages) will not pose additional problems and will be a great help. The professor told him that having a national script will lead to much more inter-mingling of persons from different states and to mutual appreciation of the literature in various languages of India. This will, no doubt, accelerate national integration much more than any of the steps taken so far. He told Ravi that our efforts over more than 60 years at national integration by having Hindi as the national language had failed partly because the vast majority had to undergo the trouble of learning an additional script – the Hindi script. They also felt that this had given users of Hindi an advantage that they did not have to learn an additional script, unlike all others. Hindi would have been more widely used all over our country if all languages had a common script. Having a national script for all languages avoids these and many other irksome problems and will remove the blocks in national integration to a large extent. This will also help to counteract the disintegrating tendencies that are, unfortunately, spreading their tentacles. Moreover, a national script makes it easy to use computer in any Indian language, without special efforts. He congratulated Ravi for his excellent pragmatic idea.

Thus assured, Ravi is keen to develop a national script to be used by all Indian languages. Being a common man, he alone cannot achieve this worthy goal. He needs support and help from all of us to develop a national script, even if it means little sacrifices on our part, for the good of all our Indian brotherhood. It is important for all of us to realize that by supporting and helping Ravi we are in fact helping ourselves and our future generations to become true Indian citizens.

“Dream, dream, dream. Dreams transform into thoughts, and thoughts into action.”                                                    A.P.J. Abdul Kalam (Ex-President of India)

“Boldness has genius, power and magic in it”  -  Goethe

                                                     LET US BE BOLD ENOUGH TO DREAM, RETHINK AND ACT

Let Us Rethink and ACT: Adopt Multiple Strategies to Wipe Out Terrorism

Let Us Rethink and ACT: Adopt Multiple Strategies to Wipe Out Terrorism

LET US RETHINK AND ACT

OFTEN, WE HAVE BEEN FOLLOWING MANY PRACTICES ONLY BECAUSE NO ONE HAS QUESTIONED THESE. BY RETHINKING AND ACTION WE CAN COME OUT OF THESE RUTS. THIS SITE AIMS TO QUESTION OBSOLETE PRACTICES AND TO EXCHANGE AND DEBATE NEW IDEAS AND REACH A CONSENSUS ABOUT HEALTHY CHANGES NEEDED FOR ENSURING PROGRESS, PEACE AND HAPPINESS FOR ALL. THIS SITE WELCOMES EVERYONE TO POST IDEAS ABOUT COMING OUT OF THE RUT AND TO COMMENT ON SIMILAR POSTS BY OTHERS. INVITING YOUR FRIENDS TO JOIN WILL WIDEN THE DEBATE.

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2008                                                                                                                  

      

LET US RETHINK AND ACT

Very often we do not question some practices that are in vogue for a long time. Only if we develop an approach of rethinking and action can we come out of the ruts in which we have placed ourselves. If we rethink, we will be surprised that we have been blindly following many practices and approaches only because no one has questioned these. The aim of this blog site is to question all such obsolete practices and approaches as well as to exchange and debate new and innovative ideas so as to reach a consensus for joint action for effecting healthy changes and for ensuring progress, peace and happiness for all.This site welcomes everyone to post their ideas (and articles they come across) about rethinking to come out of the rut and to comment on similar material posted by others so that a healthy debate comes up. Inviting your friends to join will help to widen the debate. Once a consensus is reached after the debate, please participate in the discussions about the goal and steps to be taken to implement the consensus as well as to take concerted action to achieve the goals.Actions based on rethinking are essential to have healthy changes, progress, peace and happiness for all.peace.

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2008

Terrorism has failed!!!

FORWARDING NOTE

The attached article states that terrorism has failed. If you doubt this, please read it.

Para 1 shows that none of the possible aims of terrorists have been achieved.

The article also raises some other important points and suggests a multi-pronged strategy to wipe out terrorism, with emphasis on human approach for all round     

1. The aim of terrorists to create fear psychosis among people was a partial success only. Even in this, they werehelped by the imbalanced publicity which unwittingly attached higher value to the comparatively fewer lives lost from terrorist attack as against the much larger numbers lost because of floods, earthquakes, hurricanes, road accidents, collapsing structures etc. We have only to get rid of fear to put the final nail on the coffin of terrorism. Meanwhile, one can expect spurts in violence due to desperate acts when facts about their failures dawn upon the terrorists. [Para 1 (2) on page 2]

2. Ironically, the terrorists suffer more than their targets. While the terrorists have to hide or run for life, their supporters and the entire community to which they belong are under the needle of suspicion and face discriminationand many other problems every day, besides feeling constantly insecure. [Para 1(5) on page 3]

3. One approach is to improve intelligence by augmenting and overhauling the security agencies and organizing people to facilitate and support their efforts. [Para 3 on page 3]

4. While sufferings of the comparatively much fewer people who are victims of terrorism are splashed all over the media, sufferings of much larger numbers who are victims of suspicion are clouded in secrecy. This is an apt case ofcure being grossly worse than the disease. [Para 4 on page 4]

5. The present war against terrorism by even advanced countries has failed. Multi-pronged approaches, including a psychological "war", are needed to wipe out terrorism. [Paras 4 & 5 on page 4] Only a humanitarian approach can permanently banish terrorism and ensure all round peace. It has only winners – no losers - an importantrequirement for all round peace. [Para 2 on page 3]

6. A peace mission is necessary to counteract misinformation among aggrieved groups so that they withdraw their misguided support to terrorists. Fortunately, there are signs that communities are already waking up and reacting against terrorism. [Para 6 on page 5]

7. United Nations ought to declare an ANTI-TERRORISM DAY? [Para 7 on page 5]
For UN to declare an ANTI-TERRORISM DAY, lot of people have to lobby for it. You can help by forwarding copies of this note and the article to world leaders and all your contacts. This will also help to overcome the fear psychosis which serves no purpose at all.

THE ARTICLE

TERRORISM HAS FAILED

HORIZON IS STILL BRIGHT EVERYWHERE!

GET RID OF FEAR:

TO PUT THE FINAL NAIL ON THE COFFIN OF TERRORISM


Terrorists have been active all around the world for years. WHAT HAVE THEY ACHIEVED AFTER SO MANY YEARS? PRACTICALLY NOTHING! They are still struggling to achieve their aims, if they have any clear aims.

1. An objective analysis shows that the net results from any type of terrorism are:

(1) In all the affected places, without a single exception, life became normal after a brief temporary set back. These acts of violence have not at all prevented people from carrying out their normal activities. They continue toenjoy life, as usual. Moreover, such acts have not affected economic growth or destabilized governments.
(2) Another aim of terrorists was to create a fear psychosis among people. They have achieved temporary successin this because loss of life due to terrorist attacks had been followed by a much larger hue and cry than even much bigger losses due to calamities such as floods, earthquake, hurricanes, road accidents, collapsing of structures etc. Thoseattaching such differences to value of life have only unwittingly helped the terrorists in their aim to create fear. However, a closer look reveals that while terrorist attacks have only temporarily inflicted fear in the minds of people despite the imbalanced publicity, they have inflicted more prolonged fear among those dear to the terrorists themselves and even entire communities to which they belong. Unlike the latter which persists, fear in the public mind has invariably faded with time. Moreover, repeated inflictions of fear harden people and develop courage in them. For example, people who live in areas subjected to frequent wars or calamities have become mentally strong. They have realized that fear has not helped to solve the problem but has only worsened it. People have only toget rid of their fear to put the final nail on the coffin of terrorism. Meanwhile, when the terrorists are in the process of getting demoralized by realization of the failure of their aims, one can expect a spurt in violence as desperate acts even after shorter intervals.

(3) Neither have these attacks helped the poor or underprivileged people in whose name these were supposed to have been carried out or the estranged communities which suffer from constant insecurity.

(4) Mostly, only innocent people have died or suffered.

(5) The terrorists have only forced themselves to run for life or hide, away from their dear family and friends!WHAT A LIFE? Their morbid minds have become more morbid, angry and frustrated. Thus, it is an irony of fate that the terrorists themselves are indirect victims of their terrorist acts - not only those who are direct victims of such acts. Moreover, because of the few deranged persons involved in terrorism, entire communities to which they belong have come under the needle of suspicion and have to face discrimination and many other problems every day, besides constant feeling of insecurity. Yet, they are blind to all these realities because of hatred indoctrinated in them by vested interests that have only made use of them as pliable tools to suit their whims. Can these people with hatred and violence in their mind ever find happiness and peace? DEFINITELY NOT not! If these persons wake up and ask their leaders whether they can assure happiness and peace for them and their families, they will realize how badly they have been hoodwinked.

(6) DO NOT ALL THESE DEMONSTRATE A TOTAL FAILURE OF TERRORISM?

2. We have to repeatedly splash all these facts all over the world to overcome the fear sychosis among people in general and also to help the unhappy and misguided terrorists and their supporters to come out of the rut they have placed themselves in and join the main stream which continues to enjoy peaceful life. Creating awareness of this among these entangled human tools of terrorists will help them to become useful citizens and enjoy peaceful and happy life and also remove the slur on their community. This humanitarian approach to terrorists has only winners – no losers - an important requirement for all round peace.3. This does not mean that we do not have to take precautions. THET ARE A MUST. All intelligence agencies have to be overhauled in both quality and quantity. This involves lot of efforts on recruitment, training, procurement of gadgets of high technology (all three on a large scale) etc. and will take time. Meanwhile, they have to put in their best efforts with a sense of commitment to gathering intelligence. People in every locality should spontaneously come forward and organize themselves to facilitate and support their efforts, instead of shedding crocodile tears and leaving it to government alone. Tendency to spread rumours and hoax calls should be strictly avoided. There should be a sense of fearless alertness all around. Special intelligence agencies have to continuously seek help from the normal police and people after guiding them to be effective supporters, facilitators and baseline scanners so that the former can concentrate their attention on the more likely suspects. New comers to any locality should be watched by the local police and people as well as by the special security agencies (when needed), without infringing on their privacy. Anyone finding any suspicious looking articles lying around in public places should immediately report to thepolice. Hotels and other lodging places should be very alert to spot any suspicious activities of their clients, without infringing on their privacy.

4. A sad fact and a word of caution. Following 9/11, some countries had detained and interrogated thousands of suspects and even kept many of them in prison without trial. Definitely, real culprits formed only a negligible part and vast majorities of them were innocent and had suffered. They and their families had also faced humiliation. What is worse, while sufferings of comparatively much fewer people who are victims of terrorism aresplashed in headlines all over the media, sufferings of much larger numbers who are victims of suspicion areclouded in secrecy. This situation is an apt case of cure being grossly worse than the disease. Abundant caution with a humanitarian approach alone can save this unhappy situation.

5. Some powerful developed countries with easy access to high technology had declared a war on terrorism about seven years back. What have they achieved in seven years? VERY LITTLE! Terrorism continues unabated or has become even worse. Writing on the wall is loud and clear. This “war” needs to be strengthened by using other strategies also. A “psychological war” has the potential to defeat (or at least seriously curb) terrorism which grows mainly on indoctrination of innocent susceptible people. SPREADING THE FACTS HIGHLIGHTED ABOVE CAN BE OUR MOST POTENT WEAPON AGAINST TERRORISM. All security agencies ought to do this widely in a subtle manner. The media should take pains to chip in systematically in an organized manner with investigative stories which expose the sad plight of terrorists and their supporters. These efforts will help in gathering intelligence also because more people are likely to become co-operative. The resulting demoralization among active supporters and their indirect support base among people will make it easier to tackle the remaining isolated hard core terrorists.

6. Another potent weapon is to identify and educate the communities or special groups which have been indirectly supporting terrorists because the latter have successfully misinformed the former that they are sacrificing their lives for a cause near to the hearts of these “groups” also. These “groups” generally feel that they have been marginalized in their own country and terrorists cash in on this situation to successfully distort facts and mislead them to gain logistic support. For example, Muslim terrorists are distorting facts among the aggrieved Muslim communities and getting their support for killing people in the name of Allah. It is crucial to inform and motivate these communities to raise their voice against such anti-Islamic killings. This has become easier because some Muslim religious leaders in India have unequivocally spoken out that such killings are forbidden by Islam. A Dargah Committee with 30 mosques under its jurisdiction covering a vast area in Ullal (South India) has asked Muslims and mosque officials to report details of all newcomers and any suspicious activity in the area to the police. There are also places where both Hindus and Muslims worship side by side or even co-operate in their mutual rituals and help each other. Such pronouncements as well as glorious examples of communalharmony deserve high praise and encouragement on a global scale. All these will scoop the earth from under the feet of terrorists and make it difficult for them to continue with their dastardly acts. Similar actions have to be taken to counteract misinformation among other aggrieved “groups” also in order to dissuade them from supporting terrorism of any kind.

7. United Nations ought to declare an ANTI-TERRORISM DAY. Messages like those given above ought to besplashed all over the world in headlines of all media on that day. Flags with “TERRORISM HAS FAILED”should be displayed all over and people with such flags ought to join in processions, meetings etc. Street plays which carry messages can also be organized. While all such activities on this day should aim at removing fear from the public and to demoralizing the terrorists, these should strictly anavoid creating any feeling of animosity toor victimization of any groups. On the other hand, all these should convey an appeal with a humanitarian message of brotherly feeling and help to the misguided and unhappy persons who have been unfortunately dragged into inhuman activities. It is pertinent that most of them may be waiting to come out if forgiven and assured protection from their revengeful top leaders. Those who come out of this rut should be heartilywelcomed to join the global families living in peace and harmony, as one of them. Such acts of WISDOMand MERCY will help all of us to lead a peaceful life.

An ordinary man with human spirit
who wishes lasting happiness and peace for al

Let Us Rethink and ACT: Terrorism has failed!!!

Let Us Rethink and ACT: Terrorism has failed!!!

Ann APPEAL

Abolish petro taxes

(As urged by Standing Committee on Energy of Parliament In 2005)

Fuel prices are going up and up every month resulting in 41% increase in the last one year. These hikes mainly affect two-wheeler riders and small car users directly and not the rich. Besides, these hikes are leading to increased inflation, particularly food inflation, because fuels form an essential factor for production of all goods and services. These result in increased suffering to millions of disadvantaged people. Because of higher costs of production and transportation, development is retarded resulting in loss of revenue and our exports have declined, being less competitive. Civil aviation industry is suffering huge losses due to high fuel price. Governments are not only closing their eyes to all these pitfalls but also continuously increasing fuel taxes ignoring Parliament Committee recommendation and bluffing that they have no role in the pricing of fuel.

The facts are:

1. Central and state governments have been taxing fuels (about 50% in some states) and making huge profits at the  expense of people from sale of petroleum products.

2. They have been earning about Rs.1,50,000 crores from the sale of petroleum products,  mostly extorted from unwilling but helpless aam admi. One could even doubt whether governments have developed a vested interest in increasing fuel prices because some part of the tax is a percentage of the price – higher the price higher the revenue (profit) in absolute terms.

3. The central subsidy paid this year is likely to be around Rs.23,000 crores only, leaving a huge profit of Rs.1,27,000 crores. Hence subsidy is not a real reason for high prices.

4. A basic defect of these taxes is that they burden both rich and poor alike, both directly and indirectly by the spiraling cost of everything including essential things needed by the lower and middle classes already suffering from inequitable development.

5. Lack of an ethics of care for aam admi is crystal clear on the part of governments which go on merrily making profits from sale of fuels while aam admi, have been forced repeatedly to increasingly struggle against inflation and badly hurting food inflation, that too continuously for a long time.

6. Prevention of budget deficit is not a proper justification because it can be achieved much better by (1) preventing misuse and wastage of public funds due to inefficiency, grave irregularities and corruption in the system and (2) postponing funding of projects with comparatively lower priority.

7. Current domestic price of fuel on account of international price will be about Rs. 30 only as against about Rs.75+. Fuel price in India is double of that in China and many times higher than in USA.  Hence increase in international price is not a real reason for high prices.

8. In 2005, Standing Committee on Energy of Parliament had urged government to reduce its reliance on petro-taxes. Ignoring this, revenue from petro-taxes was repeatedly increased, showing scant respect for Parliament which is repeatedly stated as supreme (whenever it suits!).

[Please see attached article “Need to rethink and act urgently on fuel prices” for more details.]

To bring down fuel prices we have to put pressure on the governments to do the following:

A.  Stop collection of taxes on fuels immediately to reduce fuel prices and to control both general and food inflation and thereby relieve the burden on aam admi. This will enable them to eat well, maintain good health, educate their children better and use transports necessary for their daily use, besides achieving speedier development of the country and larger exports and reducing burden on the airlines struggling for survival.

B.     Present a white paper covering all aspects of buying petroleum products and fixing fuel prices to clear all issues.

If you agree, please forward this mail to as many individuals and group mail members as possible (those who are reluctant to open attachments can be made aware of the facts by this mail). On my part, I have already sent these to more than two thousand persons to spread awareness and I am continuing.

If you forward this mail with attached article to more than 10 persons you can satisfy yourself and feel happy that you have sincerely cooperated in helping millions of people suffering directly and indirectly due to petro tax imposed by government.

MPs can and should put pressure on government to abolish petro tax because it is their bounden

duty to help millions of people suffering due to this tax. After lot of searching, I was able to get email IDs of some MPs. These are reproduced below. Please forward this mail to these MPs and as many more MPs as you can. If they are flooded with such mails, they may wake up and act

These two actions will be important contributions from you to help millions suffering directly and indirectly from high fuel taxes.

Email IDs of some MPs

rpverma@sansad.nic.in                                    rcpal@sansad.nic.in

lahiris@sansad.nic.in                                        rcdom@sansad.nic.in

bacharya@sansad.nic.in                                  gandhim@sansad.nic.in

ajits@sansad.nic.in                                           palani@sansad.nic.in

vijayan@sansad.nic.in                                      jualoram@sansad.nic.in

bmahtab@sansad.nic.in                                   geete@sansad.nic.in

skalmadi@sansad.nic.in                                   patilbv@sansad.nic.in

george@sansad.nic.in                                      handique@sansad.nic.in

jdwivedi@sansad.nic.in                                    tapan.sen@sansad.nic.in

kpsingh@sansad.nic.in                                     karnsi@sansad.nic.in

emsn@sansad.nic.in                                        asingh@sansad.nic.in                                       mranwar@sansad.nic.in                                    ramvilas.paswan@sansad.nic.in                       rajeev.c@nic.in                                                  bacharya@sansad.nic.in                                   ravis@sansad,nic.in                                          ssa@sansad.nic.in                                            govindrao.adik@sansad.nic.in                          vmoily@kar.nic.in                                                           office@rahulgandhi.in                                        scindia@gmail.com                                           sachin.pilot@sansad.nic.in                                pilotoffice@gmail.com                                       ak.antony@sansad.nic.in

The front page of Deccan Chronicle of 05-11-11 has a pertinent cartoon in which the Prime Minister says “We never face any debt crisis. Whenever we need money we hike fuel prices.”

Elia Wiesel, winner of Nobel Peace Prize cautions as follows:

“There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest.”

“All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing” Edmund Burke

“There can be efforts that fail but there should not be a failure of efforts” – Anonymous

Need to rethink and act urgently on fuel prices

SRB

Prices of petrol and diesel were increased number of times within a year, that too often steeply. LPG prices were also increased though less often. According to newspaper reports, the central and some state governments claim that they have no role in the price hikes. This is one of the blatant examples of deceiving people. In fact, Governments are heartlessly earning more and more revenue by taxation at the expense of aam admi. From the price of each litre sold, a shameless exorbitant profit (about 50% in some states) is made. Since these hikes in taxation form a percentage of the price, the profit increases each time fuel prices are hiked. Thus, governments have not only a role in increasing prices but could have developed a vested interest in increasing fuel prices. Another basic defect of these taxes is that they burden both rich and poor alike, both directly and indirectly by the spiraling cost of everything including essential things needed by the poor. Lack of an ethics of care for aam admi is crystal clear on the part of governments which go on merrily making profits from sale of fuels while aam admi, have been forced repeatedly to increasingly struggle against inflation and badly hurting food inflation, that too continuously for a long time. There are millions of intelligent people in India. Yet this has been going on unquestioned for many years.

Central and state governments are conveniently closing their eyes to the fact that such taxes are increasingly burdening lower and middle class two wheeler users (whose number is about five times higher than four wheeler users) and large number of users of three wheelers (the vehicle for  poor and middle class). On the other hand, rich car owners, corporate bodies and government departments are not seriously bothered and continue to waste and misuse petrol and diesel despite high prices. Sad to say, an attitude of hardened apathy continues to prevail while hypocritically giving lip sympathy to aam admi and bluffing that governments have no role in fuel price hike, while making profits at their expense. They forget that they are servants of the people and continue to dictate like masters after creating conditions which make most people spinelss.

In an article in Deccan Chronicle, Bangalore (30-06-11), Prasenjit Bose has given detailed calculations of earnings of central and state governments from taxing fuels and concluded that earnings from petroleum sector is Rs.80,000 crores for central government and Rs.70,000 crores for state governments, which add up to Rs.1,50,000 crores. These huge amounts are extorted mostly from unwilling but helpless aam admi. According to an article in DNA, Bangalore (25-06-11), the Central government has eliminated 5% customs duty on import of crude oil. Government feels that it is being magnanimous. But this reduction of 5% of their profit is mockingly miserly and callously forgoes a chance to help aam admi suffering from general and food inflation, after the strain of inequitable development. On the other hand, governments could have some justification if these huge funds were utilized wisely with a long term vision to speedily and adequately develop alternate energies such as solar and wind power as well as alternate biological fuels on a large scale on a war footing, instead of nibbling at these without any surge in emergency.

The reasons given for this heartless taxation are the need to control budget deficit and increase in international price of crude oil. The burden of subsidy is another justification.

With regard to controlling budget deficit, there are better and more human ways of reducing deficit which have not received proper attention. Reducing enormous misuse and wastage of funds which occur in most departments has not received adequate attention. For example, it is well recognised that only about 15% of huge funds for projects meant to help rural people reached intended beneficiaries, year after year. Yet nothing is done to stop the 85% drain in public money. This is an example of many such landmarks for inefficiency, grave irregularities and corruption. Another important need is to postpone projects of low priority to better times. For example, sending Indians to the moon at the cost of increasing sufferings of aam admi ought to get low priority till the situation improves. Emoluments of elected representatives have been increased substantially even though an objective analysis would have shown their lack of attention to properly carrying out their legislative functions (often because of sacrificing national interests to party interests).While aam admi are made to suffer by drastically increasing fuel prices, budget for the often misused MP Local Area Development Scheme has been steeply increased from 2 crores to 5 crores for each MP. Many more examples of misuse, wastage and distorted priority can be found if only governments care to look for these to reduce budget deficit, with a sense of urgency for helping suffering people. Lack of ethics for care of aam admi and innovative thinking and action are all conspicuous by their absence. Sad to say, lack of  political and administrative will to give time and attention to such desirable people-friendly actions is evident and regrettable.

Callousness has manifested itself even in allocation of work and monitoring. The more efficient political leaders and bureaucrats are entrusted only with “gainful” departments dealing with economic matters or power over people, for obvious reasons. Even worse, while these efficient persons eagerly apply their mind to multiply collection of funds, they hardly pay any attention to prevention of misuse and wastage of public money. They merrily continue to do so. Surprisingly, even the Public Accounts Commirttee of Parliament has not adequately questioned this serious inactivity leading to huge losses in public money continuing for many years.. On the other hand, the least efficient and unwilling are tagged on to tackle social welfare sectors. Even worse, they are often more interested in manipulating for a change to “gainful” departments.

With regard to increase in international price of crude oil, there are unanswered questions. An editorial in Deccan Chronicle, Bangalore (26-06-11)  points out that we buy petrol at Rs.70 per litre as against approximately Rs.45 per litre by people in USA and asks whether we are paying more for crude oil even though we are closer to Saudi Arabia. It also asks whether there is a standard cost for conversion of crude into petroleum products. A white paper covering all aspects of buying petroleum products and fixing fuel prices is badly needed to clear all issues. The article by Prasenjit Bose also supports this urgent need for a white paper, while stating that even at the prevailing international price of crude oil, “the domestic price of oil would be less than Rs.30 per litre”. Hence, putting the blame on international price of oil is diversionary and not justified.

With regard to subsidy, Prasenjit Bose states as follows while comparing with Rs.1,50,000 crores revenue from fuel tax: “In contrast, total petroleum subsidy in 2010-11 was around Rs.38,000 crores (as per the Union Budget). This is to further come down to around Rs.23,000 crores this year. Clearly, the government is earning much more in taxes than spending on subsidies in this sector.” In all fairness, government should not tax to earn a profit at the expense of fuel users but restrict the tax to cover subsidy only. Or, allow oil companies to fix fuel price to include the subsidy. Either way, fuel prices will come down drastically and help the suffering people.

Apart from sheer callousness for the plight of aam admi, another possible reason may be that government probably feels that increase in price of petrol and diesel will check increase in their consumption. But this has not happened. The fact is that these fuels are a necessity for development and reasonably good quality of life. Neither are these luxury items for the bulk of people and those engaged in industry, transport, agriculture, health care, education and other development activities. Wastage and misuse are mostly confined to vehicles used by officials of government and corporate bodies and rich people who want to show off their wealth. Increases in prices have not been deterrents for such people. The Deccan Chronicle editorial (26-06-11) states “despite the government raising fuel prices there are no signs of a fall in offtake from the fuel pumps, which shows that there is enough money with certain class to ignore any hike.”

It is possible that the latest increase was timed to weaken the demands for a strong Lokpal bill. Besides serving as a distraction, organizing protests will become more costly and reduce the number of aam admi who can afford to protest. If so, such cunning should be defeated by recognizing that the two are connected. Increase in cost of living results in higher bribes also. Reluctance to introduce a strong Lokpal bill and reduce fuel prices are both instances of taking people for a ride for years together and should be fought together with renewed vigour.

DNA SUNDAY, Bangalore (26-06-11) stated that on front page: “This steep hike will pinch household budgets already pummelled by soaring prices of food items and essentials.”  In addition, increase in prices also result in reduced accessibility to health care and education. Though governments must be aware of these, they have been ignoring these because of lack an ethics of care for the people. In 2005, Standing Committee on Energy of Parliament had urged government to reduce its reliance on petro-taxes. Ignoring this, revenue from petro-taxes were increased, showing scant respect for Parliament which is repeatedly stated as supreme (whenever it suits!). Collection of taxes on fuels should be stopped immediately to drastically reduce fuel prices to control both general and food inflation and thereby relieve burden on aam admi. This will enable them to eat well, maintain good health, educate their children better and use transports necessary for their daily use, besides achieving speedier development of the country.

Let us develop an ethics of care for the suffering millions

and rethink and act with a sense of urgency to help them