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Bowing to the
dictates of the imperialists the earlier government removed the Administered
Price Mechanism throwing oil prices to the vagaries of the market. This has
affected the prices of petrol, diesel, LPG and kerosene. Besides, each
successive government has sought to reduce the subsidies pushing this basic fuel
out of the reach of the poor. The worst affected will be the workers, peasants
and the middle-classes. Particularly the rise in the price of diesel will affect
all, as transport charges of essential commodities will sky-rocket. The rise in
prices of petrol and LPG will badly hit the middle classes, and organized
working-class.
This price hike is
nothing but the result of the policies of opening out the country to the
imperialists and bowing to their dictates. Firstly, while India has huge
untapped resources of oil and natural gas, it is now dependent for 70% of its
needs on imports. Secondly, the earlier BJP-led government totally bowed to
imperialist dictates by removing controls on the pricing of oil and its products
thus making it dependent on the vagaries of the international market. The
Congress-led government, backed by the CPM has continued with these same
policies. Worse still, it has increased the burden enormously, where oil prices
in India are nearly double that of the international prices. Thirdly, the hike
in LPG is not linked to the rise in international prices but is due to the
government aim to remove the subsidy. Finally, in the entire pricing mechanism,
the excise duty on oil if cut or removed will entirely meet the additional costs
in the international prices. This the government does not do, as the imperialist
dictated polices of ‘economic reforms’ is intended to push the burden further
onto the backs of the masses and not cut government revenue.
Most important of all
with the rise in prices of oil it is only the masses who have suffered; the oil
companies have seen a massive growth in their profits and the Central government
has seen a windfall increase in customs duties from imported oil. The major
beneficiaries have been the public sector oil companies and Reliance that
control the bulk of the refining. To take just one example — IOC’s profits grew
by a gigantic Rs.4000 crores (i.e. nearly $ 1 billion) in the last two year
period, from Rs.2884 crores in 2001/02 to Rs.7004 crores in 2003/04. In the same
period the price of petrol (Delhi) rose from Rs.26.5 per litre to Rs.39 now.
Reliance witnessed an even bigger jumps in profits. In addition, though the
government marginally reduced excise duties on imported oil, the net duty on oil
products is still around 30%, giving it a massive net revenue of $10 billion
(Rs.45,000 crores) this year, or $1.1 billion more that expected. In other
words the hike in prices has only gone to fill the coffers of Reliance and the
government, at the cost of the living conditions of the people. It is an
out-right loot of the people by the government and big business. The government
and big companies are hand-in-glove to rob the masses.
The increase in the
present prices is the product of the imperialist dictated economic policies of
the present and past governments and NOT merely due to the hike in the
international prices — that too, through close collaboration with the
revisionist CPI/CPM that is backing the government in power. All the noise made
by many an opposition party against it is also a hoax, geared to make political
capital out of the issue, as it is only their earlier policies that are being
continued by the present government. Also, much of the opposition by various
political ‘left’ formations is merely a part of their vote-bank politics, as
each is demonstrating separately and not building a united movement against the
price hike. Their prime aim is the narrow interest of focusing their party
banner and not unitedly fighting back the hike. The need of the hour is for all
progressive forces in the country to unite to firmly oppose and militantly fight
back this price hike.
THE COMMUNIST PARTY
OF INDIA (MAOIST) condemned the increase in petrol prices and called for a
massive united movement to vehemently oppose this hike. Silence will only lead
to a further burden on the masses, as all parties servilely bow to imperialist
dictates, whose sole aim is to rob the country’s wealth, by increasing the
burden on the masses. There is need to expose the hoax of so-called opposition
by the CPI/CPM. To cover up their collaboration with the UPA’s pro-imperialist
policies they resort to the fraud of role-back. In this the government first
raises the prices by 20 to 30% more than what is planned and then under
so-called ‘left’ pressure reduces the hike by the 20-30%. So in this case the
govt put forward the ridiculous proposal to increase LPG rates by Rs.5 per
month. This was then removed and the CPI/CPM was made to look as though it had
‘pressurised’ the government. Such methods are nothing but tricks to hide the
‘left’s’ total collaboration in pushing through the imperialist-dictated
policies of the new government. They do not expose the ugly face of the
government who has shifted the entire burden onto the backs of the people,
thereby serving the interests of these companies. It is the people that have to
put pressure on the rulers by fighting back these anti-people policies in a
consistent and thorough-going manner. Token resistance only acts to diffuse the
discontent.
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