Given Tamil Nadu's precarious fiscal situation, the upward revision in bus fares, milk prices, and power tariff announced by Chief Minister Jayalalithaa seemed to have an air of inevitability about it. The power generation and distribution corporation, the State transport undertakings, and the cooperative milk producers' federation, and also other State public sector institutions, were facing mounting losses. Tamil Nadu's debts had crossed Rs.100,000 crore, and the government was finding it difficult to fund welfare schemes and initiate infrastructure projects. But while the rationale for the revision is clear, this cannot be of much solace to the poorer sections, who are reeling under the effects of food inflation and rising costs of living. The increases are steep, in some cases as high as 50 per cent. They should have been done more sensitively, more selectively, and in stages. That would have been easier for people to accept and to bear. The hike in milk prices, from Rs.17.75 to Rs.24 a litre, is bound to have an adverse impact on the nutritional levels of children in poor households. This 35 per cent hike, on top of an increase two years ago by the predecessor DMK government, is indefensible, especially considering that only less than one-third of the increase will go to the milk producers.
A good part of the blame for the difficult situation must be borne by the United Progressive Alliance government, whose efforts at controlling food inflation have been feeble and ineffective. Frequent increases in fuel prices have worsened the situation for the vulnerable sections. And as Chief Minister Jayalalithaa pointed out, the centre was hesitant to come to the aid of Tamil Nadu despite her repeated appeals for help. Not for the first time, a Congress-led central government has been shown up to be politically partisan. While States ruled by the constituents of the UPA such as West Bengal have got special financial packages, Tamil Nadu was, in Ms Jayalalithaa's words, “shown a step-motherly attitude.” What is of some relief is that the price hikes have come after the State kick-started several social benefit schemes such as free mixers and grinders and fans, and free laptops to school and college students in government and aided institutions. Crucially, Tamil Nadu remains the only State with a universal and efficient Public Distribution System that provides free rice to all eligible cardholders. But the government cannot give with one hand and take away with the other. A partial rollback of the increases will be in order.
Keywords: price hike, milk prices, power tariff, bus fare, Jayalalithaa government, Tamil Nadu fiscal situation, Tamil Nadu government schemes
the recent price hike in the major items by the AIDMK govt. may be justified by the pro govt.people and opposed by many. Basic fact remains that whether the earnings of the poor and the middle class has increased to the extent the prices are increased. the policies and plans should be to make the common live and not to kill him. Only a proper good thinking leader can deliver the goods to the people. Present CM has proved that she is not better than the previous leaders. No body can save the people of tamilnadu
i haven't traveled to any other indian states in recent past., so i don't have any knowledge of transportation cost and milk cost there.. but what can i say is, increasing the day to day life materials and modes in the same time will really harm the interest of the people who use them..
the govt. should have increased 50% this year and the remaining next year.. i wish our concerns hears to the ears of politicians/govt...
Of course, it is with a big pinch of salt we have received the hike in bus fare, milk prices and power tariff but it should also be understood that the upward revision was inevitable under the present financial situation of the state. The announcement of the steep rise is synonym to the boldness and practical thinking for which Chief Minister Jayalalithaa is known for.
Even those using judiciously the benefits of milk, transport and power are fully of the view that the hike in all the above is too high to assimilate and as the HINDU feels there should be some partial rollback in the hike so that a moderate sigh of relief could be felt by all.
The Jayalalithaa led AIADMK Government has made a politically tough decision by announcing increase in Bus Fares , Aavin Milk etc.,.The limited options available to the Govt had made its task unenviable.While it is true that freebies have a burden on ex-chequer it is equally important to note that increase in fuel prices have forced the Govt decision.The Editorial ha argued for a partial rollback , alternatively arguing that it should have been done in stages.While this is a sane advise, it is also pertinent to note that in a Market Economy , such things are inevitable.May be the State Govt is taking a cue from Centre which has been hiking Fuel prices and blame it on the Doors of Oil Corporations.One positive thing about the whole increase is the announcement by Chief Minister on television on the hikes and its hypothesis.Thats a welcome approach.
I don't understand what the government want to do here, when i see the
caravan of Jaylalita, going to appear in High court, there are a number
of SUV(some of the most expensive ones) like Toyota Fortuner cost 22
lac.,Ford Endeavour price 20 lac. It looks like waste of public money
and breach of trust people of Tamilnadu have placed in her.
And now she is increasing taxes ......should i file an RTI on how many
SUV her government owns ....what are the daily petrol cost incurred by
us.
If the PDS was so efficient how come the rice and some other commodities are illegally finding their way into the open market and the neighbouring states ?
Jayalalitha should scrap the FREE LAPTOP SCHEME, FREE CYCLE SCHEME, FREE VESHTI SCHEME, FREE SARI SCHEME. She should make transportation regulated all across Tamil Nadu. AUTO RICKSHAW FARES in Tamil Nadu are highest in India, bus service within cities and town is the also worst in India - very high distances between stops. Auto rickshaws should be severely regulated and metered. To increase competition, crores of licences need to be issued with drivers actually owning the autos. Auto meters should be monitored using ISM band on a database. This will reduce transportation costs. Captive Electricity generation should be made compulsory for large corporations/commercial and residential complexes. Free electricity should scrapped. TNEB should work on paying windfarm owners their dues. Farming must be made into a corporatized industry, where government can help in procurement and distribution directly with less middle brokers. Free job guarantee scheme should scrapped immediately.
People love subsidies. They like to get all things "free". But people of tamil nadu have proved the above statement wrong first by voting Jayalalitha to power and now accepting the price rise. The welfarist approach ignoring the economics will fail in long run even though it may appear so colorful and lovely
The bus fare in tamilnadu is the cheapest when compared to other states. If a reasonable revision to break even is not allowed in the bus fair, one of the efficient transport system in country may collapse.
The hike in bus fare is overdue. But, how the private operators of public transport earn profit with the same fare for Govt. owned buses? If the earlier (pre-revised)fare was not profitable, how could the private operators run the services? Have they operated the service on loss? Secondly, the milk is sold Rs 21 a litre in Karnataka even after increasing the rate six months back. Even the milk outside the Govt. agency is sold at a lower price of Rs.20 a litre through private vendors and at the door step of consumer in T.N. The cost of production and procurement cannot vary too much between these two neighbouring states. So, the increase in milk price is unjustified. Better, the Govt. should leave the milk business to private players. When the Govt. is unable to run these services economically, these should be left to the private players. Unfortunately,the price increase by Govt. is followed by private players, and so, more profit for them.
Subsidies to the poor must stay and the rates of bus fares , milk have to be decreased to help the malnourished children of the poor and to lessen the burden on the common man. Why not an increase in the tax on new millionaires and billionaires? Why not removal of some concessions to the private exporters and importers?
The rise in prices of milk, power tariff, bus-fare as spelt out by the Tamilnadu State Government is shocking.The measure is sure to earn the ire of the poor people who may be badly hit by this hike. The risk of its sheen gained due to the populist measures,getting vanished cannot be ruled out. Let the AIADMK govt not forget that to bely the hopes of the people who have voted this govt. to power will cost it dearly. It should probe means to augment the resources,rather than indulging in blame game.It is more by knocking forcefully at the doors of the Centre, which dithers now,to loosen the strings of its purse,to ensure adequate funds to the State. The AIADMK should pursue to fight exposing the reported discrimination rather than resorting to the move.
If DMK Govt has looked at expenses carefully and administered schemes properly,TN would have been in a better situation DMK did try to increase Power Tariff and rolled back And Power situation was one of the reasons for DMK to lose If they had been firm and brought in more dicipline, which is expected of a good Chief Minister, we would not have faced so much problem in power Transport is another sector which was mismanaged DMK union todays claims that they have won a case for workmen in pension fund in Madras High Court But what were they doing when these payments were not made during the last 5 years?
Jayalalitha has taken one of the toughest decisions ever by any Chief Minister in the recent years It is a right decision and I do n ot see any reason for partial roll back I will only appeal that she drives better service by these Corporations and Government Agencies Prioritry 1 Improve road conditions within three months 2 Implement a system for clearing garbage 3 Improve power
Tamil Nadu villages as well as towns had been reputed for the availabilty of good milk at reasonable rates. Madras city in the bygone days was renowned for providing for a healthy living space to the rich as well as the poor. In our childhood, we used to hear the yarn of plentitude of things in the city from the migrants from Mdras when they came 'on leave' with lots of toffees and toys. This paved the way for massive migration of people from other states, particularly Kerala. The scenario has totally changed now by dint of misrule by successive governments. The Jayalalithaa government shall do well to effect a partial rollback to keep her promise to the poor and the marginalised.
Plenty of good laws and schemes are there. But, enforcement of the same in states and centre is very weak. It appears government servants` pay and their strength are increased without proper turnout and supervision from them. Otherwise, how can so many scams involving lakhs of crores of rupees and stashing of black money in foreign banks occur which could have been ploughed into our system wiping out the poverty of people? If India has so many BPL families even after 64 years of independence, it is because of this alone. Many responsible government servants speak the truth only after their retirement and not while they were in service. Are they appointed and paid only for this? But for present CAG, 2G would not have surfaced. What is the use? We lost the revenue. Let each pie of revenue generated be spent judiciously.
The editorial is a partial justification of the unexpected and unprecedented burden placed upon the weaker section of the society by whom the present government was voted to power. The steep hike in bus fare, milk price and the anticipating increase in the electricity charges cannot be justified on any ground. The people expected a change not in this way. Even the D. M. K. government too provided freebies to common man but the minimum hike proposed was thwarted on one other pretext. Already the poor especially who are below the poverty line are blinking due to the embittering price level of the commodities. The government had already imposed taxes on various things for Rs. 3,900 crore and saved several crore of rupees by terminating 13,000 People Welfare Workers. The criminal waste of Rs. 200 crore in printing new books while waging war against the samacheer kalvi is too a reason to impose these steep hikes. There are too many reasons for the present situation.
With the Trinamool Congress deciding to read the riot act to the Prime Minister and other allies of the UPA NCP and National Conference backing Mamata Banerjee's call for a rollback of the latest hike in petrol prices, the Government is preparing to meet the demand at least partially. Manmohan Singh said that I think the move to decontrol the prices is a part of that process. But these are sensitive areas and I have no hesitation in saying ultimately we must allow the markets to find their own level except for those commodities which are semi-public goods, Singh said.
Congress sources said the issue will be top drawer for the Prime Minister when he returns from Cannes on Saturday. The Government will have to agree for at least partial rollback, said a Cabinet Minister. Due to the state transport of milk production the government is spending more and more than earlier...After the prices increased by the government the transportation is more valuable.
Now Jayalalitha is realising the effect of criticising Congress which is in power in the center. She should have used her political experience in these matters if people of TN were really her concern.
The milk prices in TN are Rs. 24/- per litre is surprising enough as people in Gujarat, the largest milk producing state in India pay as much as Rs. 40/- per litre. The Co-op societies here in Gujarat have increased 4 times during the last 12 months and another upward trend is in offing. TN like Gujarat is a rich state and people there can afford milk at RS.24/- per litre leaving the Government not to go for a roll back particularly on this item. The present financial health of the state is because of the DMK Government's populist schemes which have not benefited the people at large. So don't expect roll back on milk and state transport.
In Maharashtra,milk costs Rs31/ litre.Bus fares are still costlier than Tamilnadu even after the current raise that has been made.
Your case for partial roll back is not convincing; it is futile to survive on populist programmes and policies. Therefore, It is good that Ms Jayalalitha has at last realized that populism card does not pay in the long term. But one thing is clear: prices of any commodity which are unrelated to its cost cannot be sustained and are neither in the interest of consumers nor serve the interests of the State in the long term.
How the debt has crossed Rs.100,000 crore ? If this money was borrowed for the welfare schemes of the people, then how come the Government can use the word "FREE" before Schemes / benefits?. Whether the party which borrowed the amount is going to settle the amount ?.
The Government should give up the so called special benefit schemes (does it have any meaning, except the part part which aids school children. The rate of liquor should have been raised to a level, at least four fold, that even higher middle income group people should think before having a sip. Special Taxation may be introduced.Can there be any house without a grinder or atleast a mixie in a state which lives with Iddlies and Dosas?. Keep in mind, what ever you give as free gifts, people will vote for you only if you deemed to be fit and your progress will be assessed all through out your tenure of five years. The people of Tamil Nadu never had short memory; They may forgive anybody but they wont forget anything.
Your Editorial on the hike in milk,transport rates by the TN Govt is well balanced. .As suggested by you, the hike should have been moderate and not all at one stroke. The rise in milk price should be halved. Bus fare increase is inevitable. It is a pity that whenever Ms Jayalalitha takes over as CM she unfortunately is confronted with a legacy of heavy fiscal debt.A sagacious CM as she is it is hoped she will manage to strike a balance .
Problem with our country is we are dependent on subsidy. We need a roadmap to help people stand on their own legs. Rather than discussing about how much subsidy to give, lets start the discussion on how to do away with the subsidy.
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