Some food for thought
सच घटे या बढ़े तो सच ना रहे झूठ की कोई इंतहा ही नहीं
(Truth is static, can't be enhanced or diminished. Falsehood is infinite.)
—Krishna Bihari Noor (Indian poet, 1926-2003)
Word for the day
Piacular (adj)
Requiring atonement; sinful or wicked.
First random thought this morning
Two news items have frequently dominated the media headlines in
past few years.
(a) How many thousand
post graduates, people with professional degrees etc. have applied for a
handful of clerical or subordinate (peon) job in various government
departments.
(b) What new
communities have raised demand for being classified as "backward" to
become eligible for reservation in government jobs. Many times their protests
have turned violent, disrupting public life and damaging public and private
property.
The first item is interpreted by the public at large, either as
an indication of the massive unemployment prevalent in the country; or as a
symptom of the craze for jobs with opportunity for corruption.
The second item is interpreted by various people to indicate
different things. For example—
(a) The ruling party
takes it as a conspiracy of opposition parties to destabilize the government
and polarize the voters of the community demanding reservation, e.g., Jat
community in Haryana, Patidars in Gujarat, Marathas in Maharashtra, and Gurjars
in Rajasthan.
(b) The communities
already covered by the scheme of reservation, take it as a conspiracy of
"upper castes" to undermine their rights and privileges.
(c) The communities
seeking reservation benefits do so to demand fulfillment of the constitutional
guarantee for equality and life.
(d) The others
claiming to the victims of reservation policy, see it as a likely further infringement
of their right to equality and diminished number of opportunities in higher
education and jobs.
What I discovered after discussing the matter with a variety of
people and stakeholders, is as follows:
1. The average
salaries in government departments and PSUs have meaningfully higher than the
private sector. Besides, the government jobs offer job security that is not
available in most private sector jobs. The entry level subordinate job starting
salary is close to Rs19000 these days. Not many MBAs and Engineers can get this
kind of salary in private jobs.
2. For the highly
qualified, entering the system as a subordinate is relatively easier. Once
inside the system, they can easily move forward, as the insiders get preference
over outsiders in almost senior level vacancies.
3. The increasing
number of communities seeking reservation in jobs is directly linked to higher
salaries, better career prospects and job security in government jobs.
4. Fiscally
challenged government with only partially success in growing the tax base, has
not been able to increase the number of jobs in government or public sector. In
fact the government and Public sector jobs have been consistently shrinking in
past two decades. This has further intensified the competition, hence greater
political interference.
5. The government
(past, present and future) has literally no solution to this problem.
Drive less, fly more
Woke up this morning and booked a Del-Mum-Del air ticket for the
next week. Paid less than Rs5600 for the round trip. This is good 25% less than
what I had paid for my first Del-Mum-Del trip 25years back.
After finishing the task, I sat down reading the notes I had
scribbled in past 5days about the sky rocketing prices of transportation fuel.
The record high transportation fuel prices in nominal rupee
terms, have led to widespread criticism of the government. Regardless, the
highest prices have not hindered the surge in demand for fuel or vehicles any
bit. As per the latest data available, in August 2018, consumption of petrol
rose 7.8%, and diesel 4.2% from a year earlier. Petrol and diesel sales had
grown by 7.8% and 4.9% respectively in July when prices were lower.
People have shown no urgency to shift to public transport or
vehicle sharing. Malls, offices, factories etc. are running DG sets as usual.
Despite multiple hikes in lending rates and fuel rates, the
automobile sales growth in July and August has remained positive.
The Patanjali group Chairman, Baba Ramdev, has reportedly claimed
that if the government allows him, he can sell transportation fuel at
Rs35-40/liter, provided the fuel is brought under the GST ambit at 18% tax and
dealers' commission is rationalized.
Swaminathan A. Aiyer, a noted columnist, who writes on various
matter economics and political, wrote in his latest column that the government
should not cut duties on petrol and diesel, in the interest environment and
sustainability.
He believes that higher tax and consequently higher prices shall
curtail demand for carbon emitting products, besides helping to keep the
current account deficit under check. Extending his argument, he says, the
government must continue with its Robin Hood policy on transportation fuel,
i.e., collect extra taxes on fuel and use the additional revenue to rationalize
taxes on other items. Though, he has provided no empirical evidence to support
his argument.
Chetan Bhagat, a novelist, who loves to talk on all subjects
likely to have any audience, countered Aiyer's argument and advised the
government to "stop acting like Robin Hood" and move fuel to GST. He
wants the short fall in revenue thus occurring to be compensated by higher
disinvestment, land sales, growing GDP faster and widening the tax net, etc.
Like his novels, I failed to comprehend his argument in this case
also; of course entirely my lacking. But I would still like to know from him,
how much and for how long the government may keep financing the deficit by
selling assets. It's like selling family silver to buy liquor. Soon a day will
come when you will have no silver or liver.
He wants the government to grow the GDP faster to enhance its
revenue base. Well, as if, the government can actually do it but deliberately
not doing it!
A viral video clip on social media shows a gentleman in Pune,
readily willing to pay Rs200/liter for petrol, as cost to keep Congress out of
power.
Amidst the disparate data points, incomprehensible opinions,
intense political bickering, and no reduction in the queues at gas stations,
plans of people to buy an additional vehicle in the wake of Odd-Even formula coming
back to Delhi, low airfares, no increase in rail fares and BJP President's rock
solid confidence of winning 300+seats in 2019 elections, I find myself totally
bewildered! I guess I need to hit the street myself to discover the truth. Till
then I shall drive less and fly more!
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