THE RICH, THE SUPER RICH VS THE MIDDLE CLASS, THE POOR???
Yesterday (15th September 2011) the news channel Times Now announced that they were the only people who had the first hand information on the petrol and cooking gas price hike. Be it so. But what is very disturbing about is the kind of stand Mr. Arnob Goswamy took during the discussion with the panellists. It is possible that he took this position to provoke a debate. But later he kept on holding to that position which did not sustain this suspicion (the position taken only to provoke discussion). In fact he came up with even more serious and alarming point of view, setting the middle class against the poor.
The government has gone ahead and hiked the price of petrol by Rs. 3.14 to Rs. 3.32. It has a proposal before it to remove the subsidy on cooking gas. It has come up with a formula to give four cylinders per year at subsidised rate and the fifth and subsequent cylinders will be given without subsidy. It is estimated that normally a family uses one cylinder for 45 to 60 days. Based on this calculation the government has planned to give four or five cylinders on subsidy and for the rest of the cylinders the consumer will pay the actual non subsidised price. In Delhi subsidised price of a cylinder is Rs. 399.35 and non subsidised price is Rs. 666/-.
Mr. Arnob argued that the government is running money guzzling programmes like MGNREGA but it lays heavy burden on the middle class. In this manner he tent to put the rural poor against the middle class in the urban and semi-urban areas. This divide is dangerous and this might bring negative feelings in the mind of the middle class about the poor and the rural poor in particularl. Someone in the panel did try to indicate that it is the rich who should be taxed and they are the one who enjoy most of the benefit of tax exemptions. If you carefully go through the SEZ Act you will be shocked at the amount of tax concessions offered to the people willing to invest and start industries in the SEZ area. The government displaces and in some cases drives the land owners to the street to create SEZs and hands over the land to the investors with tax concessions.
The comparison between the poor and the middle class is a dangerous stand.
Raising the petrol price will affect the middle class, particularly those who drive motor cycles and mopeds. These people cannot be lumped with the so called middle class who own cars. These are mostly working class who take their motor cycles to work. They are badly affected and they are part of the conglomeration of the people who are disadvantaged and suffer like the poor. Employment guarantee for the rural poor does not put the rural people above this class.
Now a days the rich and very rich people buy luxury diesel cars and benefit from the subsidy given on diesel. Why should the government not bring about a system that will give diesel to such people without subsidy? The brilliant people and the planners in the government can devise such a system. Should the government not restrict the rise in the number cars, big cars and SUVs coming on the roads which are already crowded beyond imaginations and polluting our cities? Should the government not introduce more public transport vehicles on the road to reduce the dependence on the private vehicles? I had stood for several hours on the busy roads in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Bangalore to observe how many cars carry more than two people. I considered two persons to include a driver. I came to know that 90% and more cars, particularly big cars did not have more than one and in some cases two people travelling. More than 60% of these cars are run on diesel. This is an abnormal level of luxury, stealing the subsidies.
Should Arnob not be sensitive to this fact? The gap is not between the middle class and the poor but between the rich/super rich and the poor/middle class.
I had not expected this stand from Arnob who had been full time covering Anna Hazare’s agitation against corruption and for JAN LOK PAL BILL. He had given the strongest support to this movement. I had admired him. But I am sad to say that he did not show any consistency in his support. Instead of counter posing the middle class against the poor and discrediting the MGNREGA he should have demanded the black money to come out; he should have demanded the money in Swiss banks to be brought to India. Some emails have been making rounds stating if that money is brought back to India we would not need to pay taxes or something like this. Should Arnob not demand the bribes given for 2G spectrum be recovered fast to meet this crisis that forces the government to tax the citizens?
I am particularly worried about Arnob’s stand because the media is considered creator of public opinion. Definitely media played a bing role in expanding and broad basing Anna’s agitation. Such powerful media should also be responsible. It should not risk dividing the poor from the middle class. They are alias in the struggle for just, democratic and secular country.
There is definitely another way to look at the situation risen from the Rupee being losing its exchange value with $ and the rising crude oil prices. This relates to policies regarding finance, pricing etc. and unfettered/unregulated market. We shall come to this subject in our next post.
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