Deregulation of diesel price

I was surprised to read about people supporting deregulation of diesel prices. One gentleman (or woman) was saying that de- regulation is essential due to massive use of Diesel for powering private generators, telecom towers and SUVs of rich etc. According to him, de-regulation will ultimately eliminate the imponderable effect of subsidy on the economy like high inflation, tight monetary policy etc. Well, I need to explain one small thing to him and to all who believe in supporting de-regulation.

First, diesel is not just an ordinary tradeable commodity. It is absolutely critical for agricultural production and for transport of both goods and people. So do not even dare to consider diesel as an ordinary commodity considering its utilization by the vast majority of the indian population. The only thing the government would need to interpret, would be any utilization of this commodity for extravagant purposes, which would include the category mentioned above by the proponents of de-regulation. Less the disposable income on basic food materials and transportation, more would be the purchasing capacity which would ultimately thrive consumption and more money to the government.

The second thing is actually how could a country ,with a sequestered statistical calculations showing earnings of 32 rupees per day to be considered not poor and  in spite had 28% below poverty line, be considered par with the international trading rules? Are our wages the same as global wages and per capita income or standard of living equivalent to global standards. Regarding the minimum wages act, India has not officially ratified the ILO Conventions 87 and 98, which deal with the right to organization and collective bargaining. We close our eyes on such important aspects to be put in par with world standards but regarding trading a commodity that’s useful for the common man, we bring up unwarranted claims.

The simple truth is our government is OF the market, For the market and BY the market. When forced to go to the “market” for its borrowing needs, and to borrow from the “market”, it must remain creditworthy in the eyes of the “market”, for which it must pursue such policies as are approved of by the “market. This is the only Modi government agenda . 

Politics always takes a new divertion..

Let me tell you a story..The story is taking place in Mumbai in the beginning of the 70's.. There was a Communist legislator from Mumbai , Krishna Desai.. I cannot explain about him for his name , his activities, his deeds has been completely removed from the minds of the people there, even people are scared to share their views on him..

But as a narrator, i begin like this.. A man, with a towering personality to lead the working class. There were the working class locality in Mumbai, comprising of the railway workers, the cotton mill workers, and they all rallied behind him. The congress , could not get hold of this community as Mumbai's rich who were congress stronghold and who believed in an economic expansion , at the expense of the poor, where left mired in the voices raised by the workers unions led by Desai.

A few years back, in 1966, a political cartoonist made a foray into politics by voicing specific treatment for the maharashtrians in Mumbai but as years moved by the voice seemed to dwindle. Shiv sena, thus, could not even get into the workers heart because the ideology  had its boundaries. When there is a common enemy, its not a new thing that all unite and thus a wretched political conspiracy was planned. In 1970, Krishna desai was muredered by the henchmen of sena, while the congress remained a mute spectator.

With his murder, Sena was able to breakhold the communist domination of the working class community in Mumbai and the entire scenario changed. Sena , fexing their muscles in Mumbai, went onto to capture the Maharahsta assembly in the future, while communist party was completely wiped out of Mumbai.

Its not true in the episode above that the people rejected communist ideology in Mumbai after 1970, but the tide of events that preceded after the death of Desai, that included even  burning his office down, changed the mind set of the people in Mumbai. Now in 2014, i read in all major news editions that  with communists ceding power in bengal, the poeple have rejected the communist ideology.  Its not true because if there was a failure in Mumbai in 1970, in another part of the same nation the communists had resiurfaced as the most succesful party.. So i guess political divertions are always there but the ideology will always remain..