The atrocious increase in the petrol hike is a bolt from the blue to the common people who are already under great misery due to the increase in the price of essential commodities like rice, vegetables, edible oils etc. Widespread agitations are going on in many parts of the country.

The Central Secretariat of BSNLEU met today under my presidentship and decided to organise sustained struggle against price hike of petrol. It was also decided to organise joint demonstration /rallies on 31st May at all Circle/SSA offices.

I am very thankful for the appreciations and also criticisms from my visitors to the blog. The comments have helped me and inspired me in continuing the same. Maximum visitors have given various suggestions also.  But sometimes  there are comments using vulgar words and abuses, which are not appropriate and suitable for publishing and which will hurt the sentiments of others. I would only request to avoid such vulgar words and abuses which don’t benefit anybody and which no body will use face to face.

The Centre of Indian Trade Unions denounces hefty hike in petrol price by Rs 7-50/litre by the Govt of India which comes upon as the most cruel and atrocious onslaught on the mass of the people already reeling under continuing price rise of all essential commodities. This happens to be 18th price hike of petro products under UPA-II regime since 2009 as well as steepest of all.

It is shocking that the country witnessed the steepest price hike of petrol when the price of crude oil is falling in the international market. The sharp decline in value of rupee making the crude import costlier, is being projected as the reason for price hike in order to offset the losses of the oil sector companies. The sharp depreciation of rupee is due to faulty policies of the economy-managers in governance of the country and why mass of the people should be made to bear the entire burden?  Secondly, the impact of decline in value of rupee on oil sector companies which deal with the national assets is not a story of unmixed loss alone. The exports from the same oil sector are making hefty windfall gains from every litre of export riding on the wave of rising dollar vis-à-vis rupee; simultaneously the Govt is also earning extra revenue from advalorem import duty account owing to falling value of rupee; and also domestic crude oil and gas producers in the country, both in private and public sector are making extra gains as payment to them for crude and gas produced in Indian soil is being calculated in dollar terms.

The volatility in price and production of fuel as well as the value of rupee vis-à-vis dollar are also the reflection of present unstable geo-political world situation in the midst of deepening economic crisis. In such a situation, is it not the political responsibility of the Govt to ensure that no body makes undue gains from either a falling rupee or rising global oil price when the entire economy and the mass of the people are bleeding in distress owing to such negative developments? Should not the Govt, so frequently swearing in the name of aam-aadmi, pool a sizable part of such windfall profit and also unbudgeted gains in revenue on import duty account through appropriate taxation/fiscal measures to give relief to oil marketing companies catering to the domestic market to neutralize the pressure of rising import bill owing to same reason of rupee depreciation and also relieve the people from the scourge of such frequent petro-price hike?

Moreover, much of the burden on the people owing to petro-price is due to most irrational tax structure, the tax component being around 48%. An essential item like petroleum product cannot be made a milking cow by the Govts for its revenue generation while allowing a free run to the private giants, both domestic and foreign making huge money from the same national assets. Entire taxation pattern on petroleum products needs to be totally restructured in the interests of the common people at large.

CITU demands total rolling back the hefty hike of the petroleum price announced by the Govt and cautions against any hike in diesel, kerosene and LPG. CITU urges upon the Govt to review and restructure its taxation/fiscal/pricing policy on petroleum products as suggested hereinabove. CITU calls upon the working class movement in general and its affiliated units in particular to immediately organize countrywide united protest against the anti-people price hike and prepare for united actions in the days to come.

-:-

Sometimes the questions from the innocent children put the elders in real trouble. All of us know the story of the king who wore the imaginary dress  prepared by the clever weaver who told that the dress can be seen only by those loyal to the king. Though all the people saw the king walking naked, nobody dared to speak, because they will be treated as traitors if they don’t see the imaginary dress worn by the king.  But not the small boy. He called out,’The King is naked! The King is naked!’.

In the same way, the 10-year-old VI standard student Aishwarya Parashar’s RTI to the Prime minister’s Office (PMO), has startled not only the PMO, but also the Home Ministry and the National Archives of India. What is this troublesome information that the little Aishwarya wanted to know through RTI? It is very simple, ” Who conferred the title of Father of the Nation to Mahatma Gandhi?”

Neither the PMO, nor the Home Ministry nor the National Archives of India could answer the same, since they had no authentic information. She was given the reply, ” there are no specific documents on the information sought”.

Another RTI by the same girl for which also the government can not give a correct reply was . ” Who had declared Mahatma Gandhi’s Birthday, Republic day and Independence Day as National Holidays?”. The reply given was,” No such orders were issued.”

The government stands shamed and negligent of the past of the Nation. At least now, the Government should start a serious investigation in the matter, check up all the available documents and find out when the title of Father of the Nation was used for the first time and when for the first time the three National Holidays were given. The government can certainly find these out and satisfy the curiosity of the young girl and lakhs of people of this country about these vital information. ( Ref: A report in the Hindu, 25th May)

But it can not be like this. The above institutions or scholars in the subject has to find the answer. Such an issue can not go unanswered.

After the outrage by the political parties, social workers and economic experts in and outside the parliament on the poverty line  of Rs. 32 in urban and Rs. 26 in rural areas fixed by the Planning Commission. The committee consists of C.Rengarajan, Chairman of PM’s Economic Advisory Council  as Chairman, Mahendra Dev, K.Sundaram, Mahesh Vyas and K.L.Datta.

Will this committee take correct estimates and make efforts to find out the real poverty line? Or will it be only to justiy the decision already taken by the Planning Commission to downgrade the poverty line?

The unbelievable and atrocious price hike of more than Rs. 7 for a litre of petrol, the 13th time in a row during the last few years have been opposed by the enire country and political parties across the spectrum. The price rise has been announced immediately after the Parliament session is over is significant. It is clear that the decision is timed by the government and not the oil companies.

The Left Parties, CPI(M), CPI, Forward Block and RSP has given call for observing All India Protest Day against the price hike by organising strike, rallies, demonstrations, rasta roko etc. The statement is given below:

The Left parties, the CPI(M), CPI, RSP & AIFB, have issued the following statement:

The Left parties strongly condemn the steep increase in the price of petrol by Rs. 7.54 per litre. This is a savage attack on the people who are already suffering from the effects of continuous price rise of all essential commodities.

The Left parties are already conducting protests against this price hike. In order to build up a sustained movement to demand a rollback of the price hike, the Left parties have decided to observe an All India Protest Day on May 31, 2012. On this day countrywide protest actions will be held including hartals, demonstrations, picketing, rasta rokos and rallies.

Government is all set to face a united Opposition onslaught on petrol price hike and price spiral as efforts are on to forge a larger political consensus for Bharat Bandh on the issue on May 31. While the NDA has given a Bharat Bandh call for the day, the Left parties have decided to observer an ‘All India Protest Day’ on May 31 that will include strikes, picketing, demonstrations, rasta roko and rallies against the hike. Sources in the Opposition camp said that efforts are also on in rope in the UPA allies like Trinamool Congress and DMK, who have opposed the fuel price hike yesterday. JD-U President Sharad Yadav has also talked to Left parties and SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav in this regard, while attempt is on to take BJD and AIADMK also on board for the May 31 agitations, the sources said. Samajwadi Party is supporting the UPA government from outside. A leader from the Opposition speaking on the condition of anonymity said that the attempt is to re-enact a scenario of July 5, 2010 Bharat Bandh, when opposition parties from north and south with conflicting ideologies like that of BJP and Left had coordinated their agitations to unitedly oppose the fuel price hike. Rejecting government’s argument that the hike in petrol prices has been done by petroleum companies as the pricing of petrol stands deregulated, Yadav said, “This is an eyewash… We (NDA) are going to observe a Bharat bandh on May 31.” In a press statement, the Left parties, CPI-M, CPI, RSP and All India Forward Bloc said that the Left parties strongly condemn the steep increase in the price of petrol. “This is a savage attack on the people, who are already suffering from the effects of continuous price rise of all essential commodities…In order to build a sustained movement to demand a rollback of price hike, Left parties have decided to observe an All India Protest Day on May 31,” it said. CPI-M general secretary Prakash Karat said that steep hike in the petrol price was expected. “That is why we said yesterday that Government should not increase the prices otherwise we would conduct all India protests. We will continue the protests till we get the government to roll back the prices,” Karat told reporters here. He said that the Left has called for a hartal in different states. “We are having different protest actions,” Karat said. Opposing the steep hike in petrol prices and spiralling prices of commodities, the JD(U) President said the government has also been a “total failure” in checking prices of essential commodities. “Government has washed its hands off the decision on price hike but in reality this happens only when Government wants. The government will also be increasing prices of diesel and LPG after the Presidential elections get over,” Yadav said. He asked why the hike in petrol prices was not announced when Parliament was in session and why oil companies did so the very next day after the Budget session got over. The NDA convenor said that while all the partners of his alliance have already been consulted on the issue of bandh, efforts will also be to reach out to other parties for the agitation as the matter is not a political one but that concerns common man. While Congress has so far officially reacted cautiously on the issue saying that it was a decision by the petroleum companies, party leaders speaking on condition of anonymity have expressed discomfiture with the move. In a sudden development, Oil Minister S Jaipal Reddy today cut short his official visit to Turkmenistan by a day to be in the national capital to field questions on the steepest ever increase in the fuel price a day after state-owned oil companies hiked petrol price by a massive Rs 7.54 a litre.

It all came in the media, how many times the President of India, Smt. Prathibha Patil, went on foreign tours and how much extravaganza she spent for the tours. Whatever the explanation given by the Rashtrapathi Bhawan, no body is convinced.

Next comes the details of the tours of the Dy. Planning Commission Chairman Dr. Montek Singh Ahluwalia. He is the Dy. Chairman of the Planning Commission and his job is to plan the economy of the country. But he has been out of the country for 274 days during his tenure, almost one day out of nine in foreign land. The average  expenditure during his foreign tours are Rs.2.02 lakhs daily. Out of the 42 trips, half were to US only, many of them not  connected with the work of the Planning Commission.

This is the person who has declared that Rs. 32 / Rs 26 are sufficient for a person for daily expenditure in urban/rural areas. But for him it is 2.02 lakhs daily in foreign land. What is the amount when India? May be one lakh? hypocrisy has a limit. Though the government has been continuously announcing austerity measures, what are the Presidents and Dy. Chairmen doing? Is the austerity only for the common people, the workers and the poor? Whatever explanations are given justifying the huge expenditure, nobody is convinced. Shri P.Sainath, eminent writer, who exposed the details in “Hindu”‘ is to be heartily congratulated.

Misuse of power has to be sternly dealt with. But who will bell the cat?