Sunday, March 30, 2008

Charging against windmills

The CPM takes a look an important issue facing India, does a deep analysis and comes up with quixotic solutions which will in all probability do nothing to resolve the issue. However the media will not question the party about the plan or the rationale of the intended tactics. The Chindu however proclaims this as the next launch of the Freedom movement. The article is listed here,
http://www.hindu.com/2008/03/31/stories/2008033157900100.htm
Inflation has caused price increase in food commodities. CPM would not address the problem at its source but would rather have the Government bear the expenses for the cost of the increase and banning futures trading in agricultural products.
the cut in foodgrain allocations to States under the PDS be done away with; 15 essential commodities such as pulses, edible oil and sugar be included in the PDS; futures trading in 25 agricultural commodities be banned as proposed by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Food, Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution; customs and excise duties on oil be cut and restructured; retail prices of petrol and diesel be reduced;

The common man should be able to afford basic essentials, but not by bartering the country's future. The various parties have made their plans to spend amount raised by increasing oil prices. Comrades Yechury and Bardhan state,
“The Central government has collected over Rs. 40,000 crore more in 2007-08 in import duties on oil than what it had budgeted due to the ad valorem structure of customs and excise duties, whereby the government’s revenues also increase along with the price of oil,”

The Chindu does not follow this quote with a reasonable analysis.
More on the fun at the CPM annual carnival soon.
About a year back there was a great blog post on the same topic by Ashok Dhamija, a lawyer where he ridicules the actions taken by the UPA Government and its Communist partners on the tactics to manage inflation.
http://ashokdhamija.blogspot.com/2007/02/futures-trading-in-farm-commodities-and.html

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

How about increasing production of these essential grains to reduce costs in the market? Or how about trying to cut inflation with some solid financial measures?
Chindu will never give any reasonable, logical idea.