THE TRIBUNE

08 OPINION CHANDIGARH | TUESDAY | 3 OCTOBER 2017

THE TRIBUNE Time to oil the wheels

established in 1881 The government must absorb the impact of rising world fuel prices
Sushma Ramachandran prices remaining extremely low.

RSS chief on Vijayadashmi The spotlight is now on the high

F
IXING oil prices has always taxes on oil products. Clearly, the
been a dilemma in this coun- decision to raise excise duties steeply
Barely concealed impatience try. For many years after the was not a wise move by the Finance
multinational oil companies Ministry, though it brought comfort

T
HE RSS Sarsanghchalak’s address on Vijayadashmi address were nationalised in the early 1970s,
has traditionally been considered an important political state- petroleum product prices were con-
ment. Since 2013, when the BJP was on the cusp of power in trolled through a system known as
2013, the RSS has been careful in the choice of words and topics on administered pricing which basically
Vijayadashmi. Apart from parroting the familiar line on matters polit- meant that the government decided
ical, the RSS for the first time walked away with the Swadeshi Jagran on the rates. These rates had little to
Manch’s (SJM) domain expertise on economic issues. It thus robbed do with global prices or even the
the SJM of its nuisance and destabilising potential amply exhibited domestic cost of production. It was
during the Vajpayee years at the Centre. With the Modi government linked partly to the consumer’s abil-
having crossed the half-way mark, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat has tried ity to pay and partly to the need to
to play the role of a thoughtful and understanding conscience keeper. ensure that the exchequer did not
His is a counsel Modi can ignore only at his peril at a time when suffer losses. Kerosene, for instance,
has been kept at artificially low prices
the administration is muffing up economic management. As the Cen-
for decades in order to provide cheap
tre’s pro-poor frontage begins to lose its glossy finish, the counsel
cooking fuel for the masses. On the
couldn’t be more opportune because the government has an ample other hand, petrol used largely for
two full fiscal years to make amends. What comes out clearly from cars has always been fixed at the
Bhagwat’s address is the government has fallen short of the Sangh highest level, on the assumption that
Parivar’s yardstick on all the issues that brought it to power — con- those who buy personalised vehicles
trolling corruption, effective implementation of welfare schemes et have the ability to pay excessive
al. If security causes a crease on the RSS brow, so does the misman- prices for fuel. Besides, car users
agement of the economy. have not been a vote-catching seg-
The RSS chief’s gentle broadsides are aimed at the national econ- ment for any government.
omy’s managers; from PM downward, including the lackluster per- Over the years, a complex system
formance of the Niti Aayog, entirely a Narendra Modi creation. Or of cross-subsidisation evolved
about the slippages in economic performance. PM Modi needs the through what was known as the oil
pool account. Thus higher revenues
RSS muscle for his political projects where there is a meeting of
from products like petrol or aviation
minds. But it is crucial to win back the core RSS base of small traders
turbine fuel were used to cross-sub-
and entrepreneurs who had kept it relevant in the bazaars during its sidise the losses on sales of products
lean years, because the poor may not be enthusiastic foot soldiers for like diesel and kerosene. Changes in
the 2019 elections. Beneath the kid gloves of encouragement, the iron the world oil prices also did not
fist is twitching. The time for the Modi government to heed the RSS reflect at the retail level. Any reduc-
chief is here and now. tion in international markets meant
that some surplus was left in the
pool account. Rises in international
prices were not passed on to the con-
sumer fully owing to the surpluses
Visible minority leader in the account. It was a complex
system that was dismantled by the
Jagmeet Singh’s victory celebrates Canada’s inclusiveness Vajpayee government. The deregu-
lation process was continued by the
in bridging the fiscal deficit at the
time. A better option would have
been to raise duties only moderately
and at the same time evolve a rev-
enue-neutral duty structure for oil
products. In other words, a structure
by which revenues accruing would
remain the same, despite any volatil-
ity in world markets.
The second solution would have
been to create a price stabilisation
fund for the oil sector. The proposal
for setting up such a fund has been
made by several expert committees
over the years, including the Expen-
UP, UP & AWAY: Fuel prices are higher than in 2008, when world prices were the highest. diture Reforms Commission set up
by the Vajpayee government. A fund
in the general budget. By 2010, it had ensure that prices dropped somewhat should have been put in place soon
been decided to completely deregu- but not to the extent as in interna- after the crash in the world oil prices
late petrol pricing. It was then that tional markets. As a result, revenues as it led to an enormous saving in
the concept of “under-recoveries” from the oil sector yielded the gov- the country’s import bill. The sav-
came into being to describe sale of ernment Rs 2.67 lakh crore in 2016-17 ing could have been invested in a
some oil products below their cost of as against Rs 98,602 crore in 2012-13. fund meant to cushion a situation
import. This did not necessarily Currently, petrol prices are over 40 when oil prices harden again. In
translate into losses for the public per cent higher than in 2008, when fact, right now oil prices are edging
sector oil refining and marketing the world prices were at their peak. northwards and a fund would have
companies as they continued to The general public may not have eased the crisis.
make profits by way of refining mar- noticed the gradual price increase It is not too late for the government
gins, as also on other expensive over the past three years but for the to fix the price issue. It may find it
products like petrol. decision to introduce dynamic fuel hard to reduce excise duties at a
The entire scenario changed in 2014 pricing from June this year. This time when the economy is slowing
down and lower inflow of indirect
taxes is likely. But high fuel prices
It is not too late to fix the price issue. It may be hard to reduce can have an inflationary impact and
consumers are feeling the pain. The
excise duties at a time when the economy is on the downturn, but entire impact of rising world oil
it is unfair to pass on the entire burden to consumers prices should not be passed through
. to the consumer. The government
when world crude oil prices plum- meant that both petrol and diesel
needs to absorb the impact for the
time being instead of allowing oil
meted from around $140 per barrel to prices would be linked to world mar- companies to simply raise prices at
around $40 per barrel. The mountain kets by the oil companies who would will. In any case, both public and pri-

C
ANADA seems to have added one more nuance to its reputation UPA regimes. Yet the transition to a of under-recoveries was then wiped make daily price revisions. It also vate sector companies continue to
as a healthy, inclusive political society. The New Democratic market-related regime was difficult out. This should have been a time to gave autonomy to the public sector make tidy profits owing to high
Party becomes the first party to have a visible minority leader. since world oil prices began shoot- ease retail prices and lift the burden oil companies and brought pricing refining margins. Besides, the world
ing up during the tenure of Dr Man- from consumers. Even with the policy in line with that adopted by prices are expected to subside with
Visible Jagmeet Singh is — with his colourful turbans, his skin tone
mohan Singh’s government. It was heavy central and state taxes on many other countries. In the first the output set to revive soon from
and sartorial choices. He has, however, used his visible minority sta-
also a time when India’s imports petroleum products, retail prices weeks after launching the new policy, shale oilfields in the US. The
tus to build an inclusive base that represents Canada in all its diversi- rose to about 80 per cent of its should have fallen significantly for prices fell marginally every day. Lat- Finance Ministry needs to take a
ty. His coalition is rather broad, and although he won largely on the demand as output from domestic the entire range from kerosene and er, there was a hardening of prices in quick decision on this issue. Only
strength of new voters, mainly Asian, he could not have achieved what oilfields began to stagnate. diesel to petrol and bitumen and avi- world markets by $6-7 per barrel and this will atone for the short-sighted
he did without support of the traditional rank and file of the NDP. On the plus side, it was possible ation turbine fuel. Instead, the newly retail prices then began creeping policies of raising taxes on oil prod-
By winning the 2017 leadership elections, Jagmeet Singh becomes over these years to make subsidies elected NDA government decided to upwards. Petrol and diesel prices are ucts taken in the beginning of this
a brand ambassador for Canada’s rich diversity in its political mani- more transparent and include them raise excise duties several times to now at an all-time high despite world government’s tenure.
festation. The lawyer-turned-politician is no stranger to the hustings,
although he has no federal experience. He has lost and won elections,
and now represents his constituents in the Ontario Provincial Parlia-

A merry bunch of freeloaders

ment. The national stage represents a major milestone for the first
non-white politician make a difference. For Canadian politics, it sig-
nals another shift away from the traditional politicians to the ones
that bring in new energy and perspective to the political system.
Though he is already being talked about as a potential challenger Surinderjit singh sandhu would appear like the characters in a needed to spend money. He took told me to tell him not to come again
to Justin Trudeau, the road ahead for the NDP leader is a long one. He magic show, take tea and vanish into pride in using other people. and waste his time. I was unnerved at
has to revitalise a party that has been an also-ran in Canadian poli-

I
N early 1960s, I was in class V,
tics since it was founded in 1961. It has had its moments, but the high- when a senior colleague of my
est it achieved so far was to share power with the Pierre Trudeau from father started living in our street
1972 to 1974 and be the official opposition in 2011, only to lose 59 seats in a rented accommodation. His son,
in the next general election. The new leader will have to build on the five years younger than me, was pam-
NDP’s traditional white base while he adds new blood and funds pered at our house, and so, he would
from his visible base, minorities, especially brown. Jagmeet Singh is visit us three-four times a day. He was
known as a disrupter of status quo; now he must consolidate his posi- an innocent kid, and would often say,
tion and graft for himself an image of a serious and substantive Ajj barhe amb aaye, oh vi mufti (We
leader, equal to the task of leading a diverse and vast country like got many free mangoes today), or ajj
mithiaian aayian oh vi mufti. His
Canada. Securing the NDP leadership was easier; winning the Cana-
father was a superintendent, and sub-
dian crown will take some doing.
ordinates often kept the supply line
flourishing. Everybody started calling
him ‘Mufti Ram’.
Thought for the Day In those days in college, we came
across friends who would never spend
The use of alternative energy is inevitable as fossil fuels are finite. a penny, but whenever tea was
— Gawdat Bahgat ordered in the canteen, such spongers
thin air at the time of payment. There
was one such jovial fellow, belonging
to a rich family, but never spent on his
friends. He was called Johnny, as he
had styled himself on Dev Anand
(Johnny Mera Naam was a block-
buster in those days). He was referred
to as ‘Makhi’. He never carried any
money. He has a flourishing business
in Chennai now, where he had gone 45
years ago with Rs 12,000 and no refer-
ences. Once we met at the Delhi air-
port. He was accompanying a Chief
Commissioner Income Tax and the
Home Secretary of Tamil Nadu. I took
him aside and asked if he still lived by
the principles of muftkhori! He
laughed loudly and asked me to look
at his ‘friends’ and decide if he still
My tayaji was a senior Army officer
and every year he would visit us. He
disliked civil officers and even I was
not spared. He thought us to be the
most corrupt and incapable people,
unworthy of any respect. He would
take a nap in the afternoon, usually
when an old hawker would push his
cart, shouting ‘Ajnale di basmati lai
lao 15 rupye kilo’. On day one, tayaji
murmured why he was disturbing
people at that hour. The next day was
Saturday and, incidentally, I was pres-
ent when the vendor came. Tayaji
asked me harshly, ‘Yaar, don’t you
pity this old man who comes here dai-
ly, tires himself and his throat? I have
never seen him selling even 1 kg bas-
mati.’ He paused for a moment and
the suggestion. Tayaji looked at me
for a few seconds and then barged out.
‘ Bhai saheb, zara gall sunna,’ he sig-
nalled the old man to come closer. I
also got near the window to hear what
tayaji had to say. He asked him if he
knew who lived in that colony. Not
waiting for a response, he added, ‘Eh
mufatkhoran di basti a, itthe apna
time na kharab karo, ik paiya bas-
mati vi nahin kisse ne karidni itthe,
kite hor ja ke vecho eni vadhiya cheez
(It is the area of cheapskates, don’t
waste your time here, nobody will
purchase even 250 gm of basmati, go
and sell this precious commodity
elsewhere).’ I looked around. Thank
God! Nobody else had heard what
tayaji had said.

letters to the editor

Some relief
Apropos the Finance Minister’s
realisation of reducing tax slabs
under GST, it seems like the govern-
ment has finally awoken from deep
slumber (‘Scope for lowering GST
slabs, hints FM’, October 2). With
the failure of demonetisation, soar-
ing petrol prices and imposition of
flawed GST, the government was in
a spot. Hopefully, this rate cut will
improve the condition of the masses
and they can repose their faith in
the government once more.
SUKHMANI ANAND, BY MAIL
Why burn effigies?
Dasehra marks the victory of good
over evil. But is it necessary to burn
effigies of Ravana and others year
after year to convey this message?
Should we not follow the principle
of forgive and forget? Even a bad
person has a good side and vice-ver-
sa. Ravana kidnapped Sita but did
not violate her. Lord Rama banished
Sita just on a charge levelled by a
dhobi. Besides, the burning of effi-
gies, and even immersion of idols of
Maa Durga or Lord Ganesha, pol-
lutes the environment. It may not be
possible to do away with these prac-
tices totally, but we can make minia-
ture effigies and idols so it causes
minimal pollution.
WG CDR CL SEHGAL (RETD),
JALANDHAR
No honour here
Former Punjab minister has shamed
the Akali Dal as well as Sikh institu-
tions (‘Langah’s political journey
marred by controversies’, October
2). The revelations of a woman
against Sucha Singh Langah, along
with evidence, reveals the mindset
of our political system and how it
exploits the poor and those in need.
How come the Akali Dal, which has a
track record of fighting against
‘evils’, makes such a man a minis-
ter? Moreover, it is terming it as
vendetta politics. Also, shame on us
that he has been a sitting member of
the Sikh parliament, SGPC, for a
long time. He has brought it a bad
name. Why are the Badals silent on
this issue? They must come out and
condemn their minister, since they
are at the helm of affairs of the SAD
as well as the SGPC.
SATNAM SINGH, PATHANKOT
Walking over the taxpayer
Apropos the editorial ‘Massacre on
the tracks’ (October 2), Mumbai pays
almost Rs 25,000 crore as income tax
every year which is equivalent to Rs
68 crore a day or Rs 2.8 crore every
hour. The widening of the footbridge
at Elphinstone Road required just Rs
12 crore, an amount sent from Mum-
bai in just four hours. The fact that it
was not repaired for years, and also
that similar overcrowded and dirty
bridges are not repaired at most rail-
way stations that are used by lakhs of
tax-paying passengers is a slap on the
face of an honest citizen who is just
being used as a cash cow to enable
netas of both Congress and BJP to live
a life of luxury.
ATUL GUPTA, MUMBAI
Judicial system
Being the world’s largest democracy,
it is incumbent upon India to hold its
legal integrity well. The current
framework where high courts are
short of 413 judges, cases in subordi-
nate courts have increased over a
million in two years exhibits the
loopholes in the justice system. The
need is for swift redress of cases
and delivery of justice.
PARASPREET SINGH, LUDHIANA
AIR news
The news ‘AIR to expand to Japan,
Germany, Canada’ (October 2) is wel-
come but the All India Radio will do
well if it restores the 8 am and 9 pm
news in English for 15 minutes, for
the benefit of senior citizens.
RK CHHIBBAR, CHANDIGARH
Men in blue
Kudos to Virat Kohli and the team for
putting up a sterling all-round per-
formance in the ODI series, beating
Australia by a convincing margin. The
men in blue are at the top. It is easy to
reach the top, but tough to stay there
for long. India is a country which can
field two national teams in any compe-
tition in the game of cricket. Abun-
dant talent is available to don the
national colour. Well done.
GURDEEP SINGH, DHARAMPUR
Encourage organic farming
Himachal Pradesh is a beautiful
state, blessed with very fertile land.
Its people are honest and hardwork-
ing, but nowdays, the younger gener-
ation is neglecting domestic agricul-
ture, which is the backbone of our
state as 71 per cent people depend
upon agriculture and contribute 10
per cent to the GDP. So, the attention
should shift toward cultivation. The
younger lot is wasting their time on
social media by sending and receiv-
ing useless messages. The govern-
ment should motivate the youth to
take to organic agriculture. This
would also take care of the growing
unemployment in the state.
KARAM SINGH THAKUR, SUNDERNAGAR
Lend a hand
The middle ‘For yourself, do for oth-
ers too’ by MK Kohli (September 29)
is a real piece of education. The
teaching profession, indeed, offers
many opportunities to do some good
for others. By helping our students
and others we experience a spiritual
joy that elevates our soul. When I
was officiating principal of a college,
I came across a poor student who
had to pay a fine of Rs 1,500. He
could not get his roll number unless
the fine was paid. He pleaded with
me that he had no money to pay the
fine as his parents were poor. I
immediately gave him the required
amount to solve his problem. He
thanked me profusely. Another poor
boy was unable to pay his examina-
tion fee. Realising his predicament,
I paid it for him, so he could appear
for the exam. The student was grate-
ful. I blessed him. A teacher is a role
model to inspire and help others
with a divine touch.
NEELAM AHUJA, AMBALA CANTT
Political saint
Gandhi Jayanti is an occasion to hon-
our Mahatma Gandhi, the man who
belonged to all ages and all coun-
tries; a man whose personality can-
not be circumcribed by the narrow
boundaries of a country or limited
sectarian approach. Not only did the
Mahatma set us free, but also cham-
pioned the cause of the poor by
adopting the life style of a common-
er. He was truly a political saint. The
path of non-violence and love for
humanity alone can save mankind
from extermination in this age of
nuclear weapons.
MUNISH GOEL, BY MAIL

Letters to the Editor, typed in double space, should not exceed the 200-word limit. These should be cogently written and can be sent by e-mail to: Letters@tribuneindia.com