A Blog About Nothing: 2011

Someone slaps Pawar. People are ecstatic (shocking to me). Anna says just 1 slap? People laugh. I am disgusted. Is this the way we want to solve problems? Are we also going to sink to their level? What's the next step? RDB style shootout?

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Meenal Anand and 2 others like this.
- Abhinav Gupta http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7NsDxjcVyc&feature=youtu.be
  
  Just one slap, asks Anna Hazare
  www.youtube.com
  
  Anna Hazare reacts on Sharad Powar's slap by a Youth Harvinder Singh in Delhi. H...See More
  
  Yesterday at 1:08pm · ·
- Aditya Ranganath Disgusting response? Yes. But somewhere many feel that he deserved it. But this response by Anna and his actions of flogging people who drink alcohol show he is no Gandhi.. not even close to it. Time to stop worship and slapping these leaders.. they are no good
  
  Yesterday at 1:13pm ·
- Abhinav Gupta Ranga, Anna was taken way out of context in that flogging alcoholists interview. Way out of context! That is how a small knit community works. And it works well. And nobody has to be a Gandhi to effect change man!
  
  Yesterday at 1:15pm · · 4
- Aditya Ranganath I am not saying one shud be Gandhi to affect change.. but showing him as next Gandhi and saying that is why whatever he does is right is what is irritating. And the alcoholic thing was not out of context.. it happened in the village where he is promoting change.. if we condemn slapping an inefficient minister then how can we support flogging people who drink?
  
  Yesterday at 1:18pm ·
- Abhinav Gupta Don't use the word flogging. He didn't use it. The media used that word. And whatever 'beating' is being done is the final stage of a long drawn effort to cure an alcoholist. Many things are tried before that, like making the person take a vow in a temple (I forgot the rest). And the purpose is not beating, the intention is to cause social shame, which is what acts as the cure. The media, obviously, put a different spin to the story.
  
  And then Anna never claimed to be the next Gandhi..! The people around him might have, but he didn't..!!
  
  Yesterday at 1:22pm ·
- Aditya Ranganath i have a problem with people around him only.. not him :) ... whether it is flogging or beating.. whether it is first step or last step.. the fact that we accept it and celebrate it as a cure to a social problem which is administered by people who are neither experts in the domain nor qualified is nothing but making a mockery of the democratic system we have or want to have. If that is the case, Pawar also deserves a slap for making common man's life hell directly or indirectly. There cant be two ways to look at same kind of thing.
  
  Yesterday at 1:27pm ·
- Abhinav Gupta OK. Maybe I am wrong. Chal compare karte hai. Shuru se. All bias removed.
  Pawar ek minister hai. Theekh hai jee. Humne hi elect kiya. OK. Does that mean we should show some respect to him? Well, if he is bungling our money, then why should we? I agree. Usko theekh karna hai? Nahi yaar, theekh karna mushkil hai, saza do ulta. Saza janta de ya adaalat? Sahi prashn. Janta ka hak hai uspe? Haan hai. Humaare paise se khel raha hai. To janta hi prosecute kare kya? Now, here I am stuck. No answers.
  
  Now Anna's village and the beating thing.
  Ye log kaun hai. Humaare hi samaaj ke log hai. Kya gunah kiya? Peete hai? To kya hua? Usse kai zyaada pareshaniyan judi hai, aur hum nahi chahte ki wo peeye? Achcha ji, majority ne faisla kiya hai. And largely sel-sufficient and self-contained gaaon hai. To decision le sakta hai? Tough one. I don't know. Is social good coming out of this decision? If social good is what we understand today, then yes, but I question the very basis of social good. Is there any social good?
  OK. Assume, the village community can take that decision. Real world. Aisa hi hota hai. OK. To kya karna hai? Apne hi log hai. Theekh karna hai, sahi raah pe lana hai. Achcha to kya kare? Kasam dilwate hai bhagwaan ke saamne. Jhoothi khaayi, abhi bhi pe raha hai. AB ek hi chaara hai. Shame him in front of the village? Is that correct? If you agree with social good, then yes. But he still drinks. OK, can we beat him now?
  The question comes - are you beating him so that it hurts him or so that he is ashamed? And second, are you beating him because you are angry at him or you want to put him on the 'right' path? And that is the difference in the two cases, IMO.
  We are taking out our anger at Pawar. And the villagers hit this alcoholist (not flog, there is a BIG difference) because they want to correct him. Same things which parents do with their kids. And I am a supporter of parents knocking some sense into their children by reprimanding and hitting gently. Negative reinforcement, that is all.
  Iske aage I can not think.
  
  Yesterday at 1:41pm · · 1
- Aditya Ranganath It is simple, when we start to defend violence at minimal level, we open doors to people who promote it as the alternative to every damn thing. Tomorrow someone will say we should cut hands of thieves who steal repeatedly. When will it end. This is how all violent histories of nations started be it Afghanistan or Germany wherever. Whether it is first or last action, whether it to bring shame or inflict pain, beating/flogging can never be supported even if my argument may sound exaggerated.
  
  Yesterday at 1:45pm · · 1
- Abhinav Gupta Dekho, baat to tumhaari sahi hai. The means matter, not the intention or the end, to most people. And dono baato pe alag stand lena thoda double standards lag raha hai mujhe. Haan, you are exaggerating quite a bit here, but the basic point is correct.
  I do care about the intention though, and if a strong system exists to keep the intentions intact (something which did not happen with the Maoists, for example), then Anna's funda works for me. But then, it is pretty tough to do that successfully. So for me, it boils down to the continuity of the thought process then, which is something Gandhi achieved with remarkable success, and Anna should strive to achieve too..!
  
  Yesterday at 2:02pm ·
- Ishan Choudhury This discussion should be rather on 3rd floor of Unnees rather than on facebook. Kya yaar Simit Batra Shinigami Light Ganesh Pawar .. Kuch sikhao in baccho ko
  
  12 hours ago · · 2
- Aditya Ranganath lol.. it would have been the case if tiny was here.. :)
  
  12 hours ago ·
- Ganesh Pawar That was disgusting man and a very kiddish comment from Anna.. equally disgusting was the coverage of it by some TV channel ... this everything sucks big time ... Respect for Pawar for his mature comments n no respect for his party for Pune Bandh

Abhinav Gupta

Great article.. Food for thought for solving the current economic scenario..!

The Political Economy of Oil Prices in India at Sanhati

Based on the recommendations of the Kirit Parikh Committee, the Government of India (GOI) on 25 June, 2010 announced the full deregulation of the prices of two crucial petroleum products: petrol and diesel.[1] Henceforth, prices of these two products will be determined by the unfettered play of mark...

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Siyuan Dai and Vivek Chinchkar like this.
- Rohit Chaudhary The facts are good, but the assumptions & inferences are silly. 1) Why does the stock market cheer deregulation of fuel prices? Because Reliance, Essar & some imaginary foreign companies will come and capture Indian market!!! Not at all, Reliance & Essar have scaled down their OMC businesses after making huge losses. Even if we assume that some new private company will come in, why would investors invest in the existing companies which don't have any direct relation with the sector & the stock market would go up. The basic, simple and logical reason is that deregulation will improve the fiscal situation in the short term. 2) The article assumes that "Since the private sector wants to enter the oil sector and earn windfalls, it highlights the under recoveries"...One expert committee after another has come to the same conclusion of approaching towards deregulated prices. Does the author suggest that all committees were bought over by the private sector? IMO, the article suggests conspiracy theories when there exist none.
  
  23 hours ago ·
- Abhinav Gupta This I will agree with that the article has a bias from the first line. Padhte hi samajh aa gaya tha ki woh anti-deregulation hai.
  
  But the fact that under-recoveries have been exaggerated makes
  sense. And when I read this article, what I understood was that the author justified the point of under recoveries being relevant only for private firms, while being more of rhetoric for the state controlled companies. I didn't sniff any conspiracy theory there! I think you are reading too much into that 1 line. The author agrees with you RC..! :)
  
  19 hours ago ·
- Abhinav Gupta Also, about your first point. Again, I didn't see that in the article. Maybe I read it too fast! And fiscal situation se yaad aya. A friend of mine was talking about how the tax structure on oil can be modified to curb inflation. Govt to khoob paisa kamayegi deregulation se, no doubt. Lekin short term me bhi bhaari padh raha hai basic expenses me.
  Tum batao, tumhe kya lagta hai. Tax zyaada hai kya tel pe? Kam karne se kuch hoga?
  
  19 hours ago ·
- Rohit Chaudhary Tax to bohat hai but it is a big & clean source of revenues for both centre and state governments. Govt. tax 5-10% kam bhi kar de to itna to international prices ek week me hi change ho jate hai. So that might not have great effect on prices. Waise in the long run it is good to have some taxes on petroleum products to encourage renewable sources, which is in India's interest.
  
  9 hours ago ·
- Abhinav Gupta Some is a misnomer here, isn't it? And can't taxes here be used as any other corrective measure to stabilize the economy in the short run? 5-10% tax cut nahi zyaada keh rahe hai hum. Deregulate kar diya hai ab to petrol ko. Petrol me under-recoveries ki baat nahi hai ab. To net to govt. ko hi mil raha hai. Chahe tax se ya state operated OMC se. Time to cut these taxes!
  Plus, again, some taxes? :-)
  
  6 hours ago ·
- Rohit Chaudhary Taxes on petroleum products constitute 20-30% of total tax earnings of states. Isme zyada cut karne ka scope nai hai....states bankrupt ho jayengi :P OMC se dividends central govt. ko hi jayenge, states ko nai. Simple si baat hai....govt. ko itni spending karni hai to kahi se tax karna padega. And petrol pe karne ka faayda hai ki quantity is easy to monitor and little scope for tax evasion + environmentally it is better than taxing other products. I don't think big cut in petrol taxes is possible, ideally I would like small reductions with better utilization of generated taxes.
  
  5 hours ago ·
- Abhinav Gupta This is the point we got stuck at too. Tax ghatane ke nuksaan bhi kaafi lage.

Rohit Chaudhary The facts are good, but the assumptions & inferences are silly. 1) Why does the stock market cheer deregulation of fuel prices? Because Reliance, Essar & some imaginary foreign companies will come and capture Indian market!!! Not at all, Reliance & Essar have scaled down their OMC businesses after making huge losses. Even if we assume that some new private company will come in, why would investors invest in the existing companies which don't have any direct relation with the sector & the stock market would go up. The basic, simple and logical reason is that deregulation will improve the fiscal situation in the short term. 2) The article assumes that "Since the private sector wants to enter the oil sector and earn windfalls, it highlights the under recoveries"...One expert committee after another has come to the same conclusion of approaching towards deregulated prices. Does the author suggest that all committees were bought over by the private sector? IMO, the article suggests conspiracy theories when there exist none.

23 hours ago ·

Abhinav Gupta This I will agree with that the article has a bias from the first line. Padhte hi samajh aa gaya tha ki woh anti-deregulation hai.

But the fact that under-recoveries have been exaggerated makes
sense. And when I read this article, what I understood was that the author justified the point of under recoveries being relevant only for private firms, while being more of rhetoric for the state controlled companies. I didn't sniff any conspiracy theory there! I think you are reading too much into that 1 line. The author agrees with you RC..! :)

19 hours ago ·

Abhinav Gupta Also, about your first point. Again, I didn't see that in the article. Maybe I read it too fast! And fiscal situation se yaad aya. A friend of mine was talking about how the tax structure on oil can be modified to curb inflation. Govt to khoob paisa kamayegi deregulation se, no doubt. Lekin short term me bhi bhaari padh raha hai basic expenses me.
Tum batao, tumhe kya lagta hai. Tax zyaada hai kya tel pe? Kam karne se kuch hoga?

Rohit Chaudhary Tax to bohat hai but it is a big & clean source of revenues for both centre and state governments. Govt. tax 5-10% kam bhi kar de to itna to international prices ek week me hi change ho jate hai. So that might not have great effect on prices. Waise in the long run it is good to have some taxes on petroleum products to encourage renewable sources, which is in India's interest.

9 hours ago ·

Abhinav Gupta Some is a misnomer here, isn't it? And can't taxes here be used as any other corrective measure to stabilize the economy in the short run? 5-10% tax cut nahi zyaada keh rahe hai hum. Deregulate kar diya hai ab to petrol ko. Petrol me under-recoveries ki baat nahi hai ab. To net to govt. ko hi mil raha hai. Chahe tax se ya state operated OMC se. Time to cut these taxes!
Plus, again, some taxes? :-)

6 hours ago ·

Rohit Chaudhary Taxes on petroleum products constitute 20-30% of total tax earnings of states. Isme zyada cut karne ka scope nai hai....states bankrupt ho jayengi :P OMC se dividends central govt. ko hi jayenge, states ko nai. Simple si baat hai....govt. ko itni spending karni hai to kahi se tax karna padega. And petrol pe karne ka faayda hai ki quantity is easy to monitor and little scope for tax evasion + environmentally it is better than taxing other products. I don't think big cut in petrol taxes is possible, ideally I would like small reductions with better utilization of generated taxes.

5 hours ago ·

Abhinav Gupta This is the point we got stuck at too. Tax ghatane ke nuksaan bhi kaafi lage.

A Blog About Nothing

Friday, November 25, 2011

Sharad Pawar and One Tight Slap

Petrol Pricing in India