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The anger simmering within the body
politic of the nation over steep hike in petrol prices is neither
surprising nor unexpected. In fact, the Indian National Congress
led regime had withheld the increase in petroleum products despite
skyrocketing prices of the crude oil it imports for the fear of
the very same anger. It did not want to go to assembly elections
in five provinces after so terribly offending the electorate. But
then, faced with the twin catastrophe of devastating defeat in the
elections coupled with plummeting prices of Indian currency it was
not left with another option anymore.
The popular anger, however genuine and spontaneous, seems to have
missed several fundamental issues. Ironically, these questions are
the ones which give one an entry into understanding the widening
gap between the rich and poor of the country, the gap often
metaphorically referred to as the gap between India and Bharat.
The first and foremost of these questions is if the anger is
really that popular, and national as it is made out to be? Is the
bottom seventy percent of the Indian population that lives on less
than 1 USD a day equally angry with the hike? This is the same
section of the Indian population that faces the danger of getting
disentitled from welfare schemes of the government by the Planning
Commission which is hell bent at pegging the Poverty Line at INR
28 a day, or less than 50 cents! That too by a deputy chairperson
who spends more than 4000 USD a day on his foreign trips! This
group, undoubtedly, would not own a petrol vehicle to get affected
by the hike, will it?
One can still argue that such a hike in petrol prices affects the
economy and raises the rate of inflation. The consequent price
rise of all commodities, would then, worst hit the weakest
sections compelled to buy their food on a daily basis the worst.
However, this logic holds no water for petrol plays all but a
miniscule role in public transport. Second, the price rise in
basic amenities is impacted more by the actions of hoarders who
buy the agricultural products on dirt cheap prices and then future
trade in them. The fact that such hoarders have access to the high
corridors of power is also a common knowledge. In fact, we have
had agricultural ministers announcing the ‘imminent’ rise in the
prices of essential commodities and thus helping the hoarders.
Third, in a country where millions of tons of food grain rot for
lack of storage, the reasons of price rise lay more in the power
relations that define the politics of production and distribution
than petrol.
The response of the automobile industry to the steep hike unravels
even more layers of the petro politics. As the very first
response, most of the leading car companies dropped the prices of
their petrol model by a staggering 50 thousand rupees, a fact that
should have opened the floodgates of debates but which is,
conspicuously, missing from all debates. What does such a sharp
decrease imply in country that had defied the global trends in car
sales and had saved many of them from going bankrupt in these
times of economic recession? It means that the profits they were
extracting from Indian buyers is much more than this price cut,
and also that the buyers were least bothered with that. It also
means that any subsidy on the petrol prices will help only this
set of people and none else.
How, then, can anyone justify subsidising petrol prices by the
Indian taxpayers money? That too when a litre of petrol still
costs less than a cup of coffee in coffee houses like Barista that
are considered to be middle class? Also, the class crying hoarse
on the hike in petrol prices is the one that has stood by the
neoliberal model of governance and has played a pivotal role in
rolling back subsidies that were meant for the poor of the
country.
The class, aptly represented by the Federation of Indian Chambers
of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) and the Confederation of Indian
Industry (CII) have demanded a complete withdrawal of the
government from market. This is the class that opposed the welfare
schemes like Rural Employment Guarantee Act as a burden on Indian
economy even in the face of deepening agrarian crisis resulting in
countless suicides by the peasants. This is the class that opposes
the governmental price control of even life saving drugs. This is
also the same class that finds no qualms against the tax
exemptions given to the Indian Premier League that makes huge
profits. Forget welfare state, this class seems to turn India into
a state ruled by the ideas of Crony Capitalism.
Despite all this, there are real and genuine concerns regarding
this hike for the middle and lower sections of the behemoth that
masquerades as a homogeneous middle class. This section of the
Indian citizenry is the one that is almost completely dependent on
private transport for its everyday existence and this is the one,
therefore, that will face the brunt of the hike. Also, this class
is not dependent on their bikes and scooters, and small cars of
late at least in few cases, by choice but because of severe lack
of a reliable and efficient public transport. (Counterparts of
this class in almost all cities of advanced world rely heavily on
public transport like subways and public buses and there is no
reason to believe that they will act differently if public
transport system was as robust here as well). The way out for this
class is, however, for struggling and building a reliable,
comfortable and efficient public transport system and not paying
for the riches’ petrol from their taxes. The superlative
improvement in Delhi’s public transport and people’s ownership of
the Metro is a case in point. As a matter of fact, both the
quality and efficiency of public institutions depends heavily on
the stakes this class has in them, with superb results of Kendriya
Vidyalays (Central Schools) and Jawahar Navodaya Schools year
after year providing another evidence for the same.
Subsiding petrol is not only bad economics but bad for democracy
as well. Forget the petrol, even the subsidies on the diesel that
runs the private cars is criminal wastage of the Indian taxpayers’
hard earned money and it should be stopped immediately. The real
need of the hour is rethinking the subsidy regime and
restructuring it in a way that it helps the poor and the
marginalised. The process can be initiated by finding out ways to delink the prices of diesel that is used in running public
transport and irrigation from the one that is used for private
cars. The money thus saved could, then, be used for decentralising
the agricultural storages and building warehouses in different
part of the country. That will not only save the food grains to
rot because of lack of storage but also save money that gets
wasted in transporting it from the mofussil India and then
bringing it back there only! That will save a lot of money India
spends on importing crude oil and save the environment is beside
the point. If we don’t turn this hike into such an opportunity all
that will happen is that the flashy cars on the roads will turn
into their diesel variants and we will keep paying for their fuel
from our own pockets.
Samar is a Research scholar and political activist.
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