Subsidies & Reservations ?

This post is about the most sensitive topics of India Politics - Subsidies & Reservations. Recently we saw the hike in diesel prices & a cap in the number of subsidized LPG cylinder (i.e. cutting the subsidies on them by the Central Government) and a huge uproar went around and we are seeing mass protests and bandhs till date. The justification for such protests is that the middle and lower class (stratification on the basis of Income) of our society can't just afford a hike.

Whereas the upper-middle and upper classes don't mind about a cut because even when they can afford it very comfortably they are still enjoying a huge subsidy.

For e.g. before the hike the government was providing a subsidy of almost Rs 17 per litre on Diesel (as mentioned by the Hon. Prime Minister in his address to the Nation) and after the hike it is still more than Rs. 10 per litre to everybody irrespective of the fact whether you are a rich SUV owner or a poor tempo driver.

And this screams a question : Why are we giving subsidies to people who don't need it ? and as a consequence of that we have to cut the overall subsidies and make life much more difficult for the overly burdened poor people.

Shouldn't we try to move towards an economical way of giving subsidies i.e. people with a certain level of income don't get any subsidy and people below that level get a subsidy.

Such a move will not only help our poor and will be step in the way to decrease the huge gap between the rich and the poor in our country. I can understand that implementing this in a country as big and diverse as ours will be a very difficult task but we have to move towards it.

One possible way i can see for this would be to use our Unique Identification card Aadhar when it is fully distributed and functional. We can link the income levels of a person/family with his/her unique identity and that will determine whether they will get a subsidy or not.

I understand that this is being very ambitious but such ambitious aims on the one hand might take a long and hard time for implementation but will prove to reform our country for the better on the other.

Similarly for the reservations we have in all sorts of things be it higher education, government jobs and now even the recently talked about reservations in promotions in government jobs etc. Reservations are from the time of our Independence and are aimed at giving opportunities to the weaker classes to come up but everyday we see huge misuse of these reservations. We can easily see well off people belonging to weaker classes who don't necessarily need any reservations taking advantage of such reservations and in turn causing the policy to never reach the actually needy people (despite measures like creamy layer etc). Also nowadays we have all sorts of people in need in almost all sections and types of classes, so how do we take care of them ?

Again i think time has come & we have to think about handling reservations in a economical way rather than on the basis of caste etc.

And as evident above, I truly believe that our upcoming Unique Identity card has huge potential to support & facilitate such Institutional changes in our country (maybe another post in the future)

Coalition Dharma ?

Even though i personally might not agree with the way UPA coalition parties like TMC, BSP start giving ultimatums to the Government and block major reforms but I appreciate the fact that they stand by their principles and ideologies irrespective of something called "Coalition Dharma"

They feel something is done wrong, they oppose - as simple as that ! 

However on the other hand, recently on the issue of the CAG report of Coal Blocks allocation & subsequently BJP blocking the functioning of the Parliament. BJP was adamant on "NO Debate" and constantly kept asking for the Prime Minister's resignation and thereby completely ruining the Monsoon Session of the Parliament.

And on this very issue, one of the leaders Mr. Sharad Yadav of JDU (one of the Coalition party in NDA) gave a statement that even though they are in favour of a "Debate" and Functioning of the Parliament but since they are in the NDA coalition, so going by their "Coalition Dharma" they'll oppose it as well.

How illogical, undemocratic & materialistic is that ?

Even if you believe in A, but your coalition and the bigger party believes in B, so you'll blindly support B irrespective of what you think is better in terms of National interest. This is just ridiculous and makes a complete mockery of the principles and ideologies the political party claims to have.

Pure & Simple Vote Bank Politics !

This post refers to the Hike in the Diesel Prices (by Rs 5) and Capping of the subsidized LPG cylinders to 6 per family per year and the followed criticism by BJP & TMC.

Let's first look into why this rise was necessary ? The diesel prices haven't been increased for more than a year and the international crude oil prices have been souring up, to add to that rupee has gone significantly weaker in comparison to the dollar making the imports much more costlier. And as a result of all this, the oil companies are facing huge losses which are covered by the Government in the form of subsidies.

However the amount allocated for subsidies this year has already been used up, the fiscal deficit is rising & the economy is in a very difficult situation. The subsidies almost amount to more than 2% percent of the GDP which is way too high. If no steps were to be taken, we'll be no where near the target fiscal deficit of 5.1% of the GDP. Even more the investment sentiments would keep dipping down and India would have been in a high risk of a "Downgrading" by the rating agencies which would have meant much more fatal to our economy.

All the economic experts view this as a very essential move especially in the current economic environment.

And i agree that this will mean more inflation and more monetary problems for the middle and lower classes of our country but this is the price to be paid to avoid a much bigger economic mess.

And now after the price rise, the BJP & the TMC (maybe others as well but i've seen specific comments from Mr. Venkaiah Naidu (BJP) & Ms. Mamata Banerjee (TMC)) opposing & condemning the rise and asking for a roll back.

And I believe this is just Pure & Simple Vote Bank Politics ! Don't they realize that this is very much needed for our economy and we will be in a much bigger mess in the future if no action is taken. And if at all they have any another solution for the problem, why don't they suggest that. But no, they'll just oppose the hike and gain points with the people.

BJP on the one hand criticizes the Government for not taking tough decisions and on the other hand criticizes those tough decisions  once they come in. As a opposition party one doesn't necessarily have to oppose each and every move of the Government irrespective of whether it's right or wrong for the country.
 
We should realize that becoming leaders is more about working for the betterment of the Nation and not just trying to win points for next elections every time one gets a chance.