Rising Prices: Food and Vegetables Beyond Aam Admi Reach

The initial euphoria generated by the new Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan has evaporated in less than a month. Though falling rupee has been checked and there has been appreciation of Indian rupee against the US dollar from Rs. 68 to Rs. 62 a dollar, the common man has no respite from the spiraling prices of essential commodities particularly food items, vegetables and fruits. The WPI (Wholesale Price Index) is at 6.10 % where as vegetable prices are up by 78% and onion is selling at Rs.70-80 a kilogram. The monetary policy remains choppy and Raghuram’s task ahead is to ensure stability in exchange rate and contain inflation.

Lucky are those who manage two square meals a day for the prices have hit the roof. For majority of people with small income, surviving is a challenge. The UPA Government and the Congress Party still swears that it has  done and is doing a lot for the ‘aam admi’. From the ground reports it appears that the government policies are directed to benefit only a handful of corporate and business houses who are in the good books of the ruling clique.

The immediate reason of rising prices of food articles, vegetables and fruits are attributed to increase in transportation cost. The diesel prices have increased and there is growing demand to further effect a hike of Rs. 10/- a litre for diesel to bring down the losses of public sector oil companies along with giving opportunity to private players in the oil sector to make more money.

In India, more than 70 % of goods transportation is carried by road. Perishable commodities like fruits and vegetables are transported by trucks. Due to poor maintenance of the highways more fuel is burnt than required. Besides, the truck drivers have to pay fixed amount to multiple inter-state check posts and to the police before they reach destination to deliver the consignment. The transport companies charge this bribe money from the customers.

The Dedicated Freight Corridors of the Indian Railways that was first announced some twenty years ago is yet to take off. There have been few earth works on the tracks that would run across the country from East to North and from North to West. The budget estimate has increased in thousands of crores of rupees and the government has no enough funds to speed up the project that might save some fuel and bring down the transportation costs of not only food and vegetables but also of raw materials for the industry.

After Golden Quadrilateral Project launched by Atal Behari Vajpayee Government, the UPA rulers have not been able to speed up and complete the unfinished works of the project since 2004 let alone add any significant length of National Highways. The Delhi-Jaipur Road is still incomplete and there have been protests over toll charges since the stretch is still under construction.

 As I have already pointed it out in my earlier comments on the government fiscal policy, it goes without saying that the economic situation is likely to worsen in the coming days. The government is totally directionless. It is drifting in the sea of confusion like a ship without radar.

~R. K. Sinha

  

Economic Crisis Looms Large: Petrol Rationing on Cards

With economic crisis looming large on the Indian horizon, the UPA Government has set alarm bells. Rationing of petrol and diesel appears to be first step to reduce the rising import bills. The Petroleum Minister Veerappa Moily has sounded the alarm by telling that petrol pumps should operate only for 12 hours in a day- from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Any move to ration petrol would send wrong signals to the industry which has already gone into negative zone in terms of growth during the first quarter – April to June of the current financial year. It will further discourage investments. Not only that it will send negative vibes to the global players who have already withdrawn their hands from investing in India.

The government attempt to ration petrol directly contradicts Prime Minister Mamohan Singh and his Finance Minister P Chidambaram who have expressed confidence in the Indian economy by declaring that it will improve soon and the declining trend would be reversed. The statements were made on the floor of Parliament last week.

If the government is so confident of reversing the trend then why Prime Minister Manmohan Singh asked the Petroleum Minister to take steps to reduce the oil import bills by 25 billion US $. Moily is desperate to deliver results on the dictated line of Prime Minister. Just by reducing the hours of availability of petrol and diesel at the retail outlets would not necessarily reduce consumption of the product. It will, on the contrary, lead to hoarding and black marketing of petrol and diesel. Car owners who normally buy say 10-20 liters in a day would tend to get their fuel tank full and maintain the meter constantly at half the capacity of the tank.

If the government is sincere and serious about the crisis then, Prime Minister should come once again to Parliament which still is in session for another couple of days and tell the nation that the country is in financial crisis. The government should appeal to the people to minimize consumption of not only petrol and diesel but also restrict consumption and use of imported goods.

I recall the appeal of the then Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri who had asked us to skip one meal in a week. People responded enthusiastically and overwhelmingly to Shastriji’s appeal and saved food grains in million of tones. Alas, Manmohan Singh is not Lal Bahadur Shatri. Still, he as the Prime Minister of India and can admit before the nation and appeal to the people to make small sacrifice to arrest the falling rupee and rising Current Accounts Deficit. Our import bill on imports of crude oil alone is more than Rs. 8,500 crores a year.

Moil has also suggested that India should increase the import of crude oil from Iran substantially and save 57,000 crores of rupees since Iran oil is cheap and payment is made in Indian currency; not in US dollars. But the catch is the UN sanction on Iran. Can the present government afford to antognise Washington by defying the UN sanctions against Iran and go for large scale import of crude oil to reduce the current accounts deficit which stands at staggering 80 billion US dollars? It is unlikely.

~R. K. SINHA

Hint of Change in President’s Speech

PRANAB MUKHARJEE, PRESIDENT OF INDIA

The President Mr. Pranab Mukherjee has thrown hints for change of government albeit through a vague reference when he told the people to “…to elect a stable government which will ensure security and development” in his address to the nation on eve of 67^th Independence Day.

The President’s speech was loaded with important message if one reads between the lines of the text of his address. For instance, he mentioned about, “Widespread cynicism and disillusionment with the governance and functioning of institutions”.

It is sort of disapproval of the UPA Government for absence of governance and for undermining the institutions.  Mr Mukherjee’s ‘serious concern’ over the functioning of Parliament and Legislatures is yet another note of reprimand to the elected representatives. The President has also expressed concern over corruption. He said,” Corruption is a major challenge”.

Even a cursory look at the major scams like Common Wealth Games, 2G Spectrum, Coal etc. involving lakhs of crores of rupees is a clear indictment of the UPA Government under which all these scams took place.

For the BJP here is an opportunity to campaign for getting voted to power at the Centre. The Central leadership of the Party and the Central Campaign Committee headed by Narendra Modi should tell the people to vote for the BJP which promises to provide a stable government and promises to end the ‘corruption raj’ in the country.

It was rare occasion for the President of India who gave his mind unlike some of his predecessors who spoke about only hyped achievements of the government of the day. Mr. Pranab Mukherjee also told the people to do and work according to their conscience. Taking a leaf out of Bhagwat Gita, the President said, “Even as you choose so you do. I do not wish to impose my view on the people. I have presented to you what I think is right. Now it is for your conscience, your judgement, for your mind to decide what is right”.

The Independence Day also saw for the first time an Opposition leader getting equal prominence in the media at par with the Prime Minister while addressing the people. Narendra Modi’s Independence Day speech at Bhuj received equal attention or better to say a little more than that of Manmohan Singh on the Independence Day. It was subject of debate as people and commentators compared the speech of the two leaders.

In the troubles state of Jammu & Kashmir, the chief minister Omar Abdullah sounded like a jilted lover when he said that the people of J & K were looked at differently or better say with disdain by the rest of people of the country and the government at the Centre. At a time when the chief minister should have attempted to cement the gap between the Centre and the State, Omar chose to drive a wedge that would only alienate the people in the valley from mainstream.

~R. K. Sinha

Independence Day: Don’t Let Sacrifices Go Waste

I was born in Independent India. This does not mean I am not aware of the sacrifices of the people many of whom laid their lives to see India a free nation. I can feel the pains of the nation during the freedom movement. I can visualize the scene when Shahdeed Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Raj Guru were hanged by the British rulers. I can imagine the cries of the people who were massacred by the British Government at JaliaNwala Bagh massacre. The Dandi March of Mahatma Gandhi or the courage of Subhash Chandra Bose.

This is our 66^th Independence Day.

As a young man I remember the 1971 war with Pakistan. I was a young journalist then. I had the rare privilege and opportunity to cover the war from forward areas as a war correspondent of The Searchlight and Pradeep published from Patna. That time, our leadership demonstrated the courage and guts to fight it out with Pakistan and crush the atrocities and killings of Bangla speaking population of East Pakistan. Our Army defeated the Pakistani forces and captured almost one lakh Pakistani soldiers and dozens of officers including Lt. Gen Niazi who was chief commander in East Pakistan and made them prisoners of war. Bangladesh was born. The POWs were brought to Ranchi and kept there for some time before being repatriated to Pakistan under ceasefire agreement. Lt. Gen. Jagjit Singh Arora was the commander in chief of the Indian Army in the war zone on the Eastern Sector with Pakistan and General Mankeshaw was the chief of the army staff.

My second most exciting and yet traumatic experience was the Emergency of 1975. I was with Jaya Prakash Narayan and involved in the JP movement.

I wonder how Indira Gandhi who had emerged as a strong Prime Minister and leader of the country in taking on Pakistan in 1971 despite international pressures particularly from Washington, subsquently turned out to be an oppressor of her own countrymen. She fell into the trap of her misguided advisors including her younger son Sanjay Gandhi when she declared internal emergency in the country on 26 June 1975. She had to pay the price when she and her party the Congress were defeated in the elections of 1977.

I feel sad when I see our Prime Minister today, the Defence Minister and other Congress Ministers and leaders including the Congress President Sonia Gandhi. The rulers have least regard for our soldiers. Look at the way our Army is being targeted by the two hostile neighbours- Pakistan and China. Loot at the scams in defence forces, be it the latest pay off in the helicopter deal or purchase of ‘boots, guns and jackets’ for our Army. Substandard materials are being purchased and given to our Army and other two defence forces, the Air Force and the Navy. Even food articles including cereals are substandard.

The government of the day is too much pre-occupied with fighting the fire of corruption which refuses to douse. The government’s second priority is to strike shady deals with some regional political parties for their support in and outside Parliament. Their third priority is to raise the bogey of secularism in the country that only aggravate communal divide.

I recall a speech of Lal Bahadur Shastri. He was addressing a public meeting in Allahabad. Our Prime Minister Shastri narrated an incident. He had gone to see an injured soldier to a hospital. He said that the solider was almost wrapped in cotton bandage. You can imagine his pain and plight. When the accompanying officer whispered into the ears of the injured soldier that Prime Minister Shastri had come to see him, the soldier said that he was feeling sorry that he was not in a position to salute the Prime Minister. After narrating the story, Shastri broke down at the dais in view of huge crowed at the meeting ground.   Shastri knew the contribution of our Armed Forces and the farmers to the nation building and hence he gave the slogan of ‘ Jai Jawan Jai Kisan’.

Will the rulers in command of the country take the trouble of going through the tenure of Lal Bahadur Shastri  as a Minister in Nehru Government and later as Prime Minister of India to learn a lesson or two from his life, perhaps not?

~R. K. Sinha

Blind Govt. And Monkey Justice

AKHILESH YADAV, CM, UP

DURGA SAKTI NAGPAL, SUSPENDED IAS OFFICER

There cannot be a better example of a government that is blind and a government who believe in monkey justice system than the Government of Uttar Pradesh headed by Akhilesh Yadav and run by his keens.

Akhilesh has maintained since beginning that the Sub-Divisional Magistrate, Durga Shakti Nagpal, an IAS officer was suspended because she acted in prejudiced manner that threatened communal harmony in the area. What was her action that undermined communal peace? According chief minister and his uncle, the officer demolished the wall of a mosque in the area without giving any notice to the people who built the mosque. It now transpires that there is no mosque there as claimed by the chief minister. There is official report sent by the District Magistrate of NOIDA that confirms the non-existence of the mosque mentioned by the chief minister and his team. A wall was erected on a plot of land illegally. The SDM after receiving complaint from the plotter of the trap (Samajvadi Party leader) that there was illegal construction there. The SDM reached the place and spoke to the people of the locality. She counseled them and the people agreed to bring down the structure voluntarily. Where she demolished the wall in first place with bull dozer and where was the mosque?

The report submitted by the District Magistrate of Gautam Budha Nagar says that there was no communal tension and there was no mosque there.

Now, will the chief minister answer why he is blind to violent clashes between the Shias and the Sunnis in Lucknow for the past two days that has indeed disturbed communal peace right under his nose? Has the chief minister or his government taken any action against any officer for dereliction of duty in Lucknow? The answer is a big no.

Then why pick up an honest woman who was doing her job honestly? Why fabricate a case to trap and victimize the officer?

On an average the illegal mining of sand in the area fetches ill gotten money running into millions of rupees. A large slice of this money goes to the politicians in Lucknow. The sand mafia was threatened and their illicit business was closed.

What answer the chief minister has now?

The Centre woke up rather late and that too only after the case of the SDM sent nationwide shock waves. The whole country is outraged at the criminal conduct of the state government. First Union Minister Salman Khursheed said that the hands the Centre were tied. Now Narayansamy says New Delhi can act and the Centre can revoke the suspension after it receives a formal complaint from the victim, Durga Shakti that her suspension was wrong. Since the officer is from the Central Cadre of Indian Administrative Service, its parent authority is Department of Personnel under the Prime Minister of India.

The million rupee question is will the Manmohan Singh government undo the injustice done to Durga Shakti. Does the Congress and the government headed by it show the guts to respond to the call of justice at the risk of annoying Mulayam Singh Yadav? We eagerly wait for your call Mr Manmohan Singh.

~R. K. Sinha     

In Mafia Raj Honesty Is Worst Casualty

DURGA SAKTI NAGPAL, IAS

It is ‘mafia raj’. No matter what the Supreme Court observes, strong lobby of contractors with bagful of money have and will have their way in any state of the country. The Uttar Pradesh government headed by Akhilesh Yadav, son of Mulayam Singh Yadav has done the act in blatant violation of the apex court order not in letter but in spirit. A young IAS officer was victimized for doing her job honestly in NOIDA, Durga Shakti Nagpal, the Sub-Divisional Magistrate had seized trucks and dumpers of sand contractors who were illegally lifting sand from the bed of river Yamuna. She was suspended from service by the chief minister under the garb of ‘disturbing communal harmony’ in the state.

A wall of the mosque illegally constructed was demolished by the orders of the SDM. It was enough provocation or reason to remove the officer. There was no communal tension in the area as claimed by the government. On the contrary, the Police reported that everything was calm and there was no tension. Just a few days before sacking Durga, the U P Government had removed the mining officer of the area for checking illegal mining of sand.

Hardly, the ink had dried on the suspension order of the SDM, the mafia has returned to the bed of Yamuna with more than 200 trucks and dumpers. The business has resumed and so has the supply of money to Lucknow.

It is an old story. No upright officer posted in NOIDA or Greater NOIDA survives his term of three years in office. He or she is shifted within months of joining if the officer tries to enforce rules and check illegal land dealings and settlement. Any attempt to check illegal mining is also frustrated by the state government.

How one can expect the country to have good governance when the government connives with criminals and mafias?

True to its characters, the Congress has preferred to maintain ‘silence’ on the suspension of the officer and on illegal mining of sand in the area. How can Congress speak against corruption? The Party has always encouraged corrupt practices in the government and has helped people to make fortunes by doling out favours be it increasing the price of natural gas or petrol to private players.

See what Salman Khursheed, a senior Congress minister said on the issue. According to Khrusheed, the hands of the government are tied. Can he say that the hands of the Congress are also chained? Well, it is entirely under the purview of the state government to appoint, transfer and suspend its officials. The Centre can’t intervene. But the Congress Party has no restriction on speaking out its mind on an issue that has generated a national debate and outrage. Why can’t the Congress condemn the illegal mining which is a serious threat to environment? The platitudes of its ministers at world environment conferences showing concern about the global warming and environmental pollution sound hollow.   

Everything has a price. The silence of the Congress leaders on illegal mining can be attributed to its policy of appeasement to regional satraps. The UPA Government and the Congress Party will not attack Mulayam Singh since they need his political support now and may be in the future. Already, the government is trying to influence the CBI which is investigating the Disproportionate Assets case against Mulyam Singh to give the Samajvadi Party leader a clean chit in the case. How can it criticize the UP Government for a ‘small thing like illegal sand mining”?

~R. K. Sinha 

Batla House: Whipping Communal Passion

Inspector Mohan Chand Sharma after injured

A court judgment is open to discussion but it cannot be a tool to whip up communal passion that divides Indians. If a section of people including politicians, social and human rights activists and journalists think that the encounter at Batla House was fake and stage managed and that the accused Shahzad was not present when the incident took place, the activists can challenge the decision of the court. The trial court judgment is open to review in the High Court and in the Supreme Court. The accused has the opportunity to seek redress if the verdict is not correct. Where is the occasion to whip up communal passion amongst the minorities and hammer the point that the police and the prosecution are regular offenders of booking innocent people on charges of terrorism in the country?

Such innuendo would only alienate the minorities further from the mainstream and force them to react and even retaliate in a manner that would aggravate terrorism in India. Those people who are masquerading as the champions of the Muslims flaunting their tags of secularism are in fact harming the cause of the minorities in particular and the country in general.

One can debate a court order or judgment but one can’t question the verdict. The merit of the judgment can be questioned and challenged only in a court of law at higher level.

Some activists argue that the entire encounter was stage managed. Because the slain inspector did not wear a bullet proof jacket showed that the raiding team of Delhi Police knew that people in the flat of Batla House were not ‘terrorists’. The police have explained its position and there is no point in repeating the same.

If one goes by the view of the activists and some Congress leaders that the people hiding in the flat were innocent then question arises who killed Inspector Sharma and grievously injured two more policemen in the firing? Some cynics went out to say that Sharma was killed by his own colleagues. If Policemen killed Sharma then this fact would have come out within days of the shootout at Batla House. Such things cannot be hidden for long. There were and there are many Police officers who would have leaked this operation to assassinate Sharma. If some Police officer wanted to eliminate their colleagues there were other methods to do so. Who knows better than the Police? Why stage a fake encounter in the heart of the capital?

It is ridiculous to suggest that it was a fake encounter at Batla House.

Again, if the Police erred in killing innocent people in the shootout, why the Congress led UPA Government did not book the Police officers guilty of killing innocent people in the guise of terrorists? The Delhi Police is directly under the control of the Centre, the Home Ministry to be precise. Why the then Home Minister Shivraj Patil did not order an inquiry into the incident?

After the trial court verdict in the case, P Chidambaram, a senior Minister of the Manmohan Singh Government is on record saying that the encounter was genuine and that those killed in the shootout were terrorists. But it is typical style of the Congress to allow its leaders to play Dr Jekyll & Mr. Hyde, the characters of the Novel written in 19^th Century by famous writer Robert Louis Stevenson. The senior Congress leaders like Digvijay Singh and Ministers like Rahman Khan and Salman Khursheed contradict the government and Chidambaram on the Batla House case.  Singh still maintains that the encounter was stage managed. Whom the Congress is fooling?

~R. K. Sinha