Petrol Strikes Back

First things First

If selling fuel is such a loss making venture why doesn’t the government simply shut down the stupid show? Billions of dollars of Gold is imported without government help. We also import a host of other stuff .People in this country are capable enough to import oil as well. And i bet if the deal done competitively and indeed these monopolies are destroyed oil prices will crash tonight. Anyways Gold price keeps on increasing. No one brings down the government cause of that.

Government is getting no brownie points from the public for this oil trade show. If there is still no profit selling Oil - Quit selling Oil .Please.

No Social Role

The talk of a social role Oil trading is nonsense .There is no social role. There is no social role in any act of trading. Never. If government had any ambitions of a social role it would be making hospitals and schools in rural areas and selling Roti each night to the countless hungry. It wouldn’t be spending all time manipulating Oil price if it didn’t mean serious monetary gains for the Government.

Daylight Bandits

First the State Governments, who play the role of daylight bandits without taking the Blame? The Price of Petrol without VAT is Rs, 61/ litre in Goa . If you are in a state where the price of Petrol is Rs. 78 then the value of this robbery called VAT is Rs. 17 .Call this robbery or Tax if you want. Change in nomenclature does not change the fact that this money is taken from you without your consent. It would have been a reasonable tax had the state governments spent it in some social or industrial projects.  This is the money that the State ministers are using to make their statues in Parks. So about 20-30% of petrol price is state level robbery.

The Central Level loot

The central level loot can be defined thus .This is the money that Pratibha Patil is allocated for her International Visits. This is the money used to Buy Z grade security to the ministers and this is the money that is allocated for various scams. I am not giving this money with consent. This money is forcibly taken from us in each purchase. This is robbery. The truth is that Government is getting Loads of money from this petrol trade. These are in the form of taxes. How else do you suppose any government makes money in the world !!!

When the Oil Importing companies import Oil they pay custom duty .And then there is an education cess and then the excise duty. There are taxes on the Shipping companies and then taxes from the Oil Retailing companies .There is Income tax from a petty employee of Oil Company to Corporate Income tax from the Oil Retailing Companies.

Subsidy Talk

So a simple calculation Petrol of Government Profit is like this .

VAT - Rs. 10 -18(Depending on which State you are living in if not in Goa)

EXCISE DUTY  - Rs.14.78/Litre (14.35/Litre+ 3% Education cess ) ( This is 2-3 Times the money the Government loses in subsidy )

Customs Duty -5 %

Education Cess –3%(Included above )

Subsidy- Rs. 2- 5 (depending on when the next elections are scheduled.)

We can check the Petrol Price Buildup directly from the Petroleum Ministry website .

 Though the Government(Central and state) makes a cool Rs. 30 or more on every  litre of petrol that it sells through various agencies, it will keep sulking over the subsidy loss of Rs. 2-5 per litre. I feel very insulted by the subsidy talk that the most Arrogant man in India Pranab Mukherjee renders now and then .The recent talk of of him as President and PM has mellowed him a bit. But he is forceful manipulator when it comes to Petro Talk. He will make a face like rich people make when they have to shell out a coin for an insistent beggar, and speak with grim expression and morose voice, how he is so painfully giving these subsidies .Will you ever hear him talk how much is the value of the loot that the central and state governments engage in.

Who is responsible?

Who is to be blamed for all this? Ofcourse the idot common man is to be blamed for it as he is so moved by the statue of his caste leader more than an industry in his area. Most importantly this idiotic common man will indulge in all sorts of dharna riots and hartal if an industry is proposed in his area . In a way this brutal treatment of the stupid population engaged in all sorts of caste, language and religion and regional bigotry and is very much justified. We damn deserve it.

Philosophy of our Economics -War for Money

Once you have led the population to the dangerous zone of capitalism with no social guarantees , let the population know that it’s an all-out war for money . Don’t give him hope that the government will do anything for him. Don’t fleece him for taxes either. Everyone from the beggar who sits near Hanuman Mandir to Vijay Mallaya will take care of himself . He that dies must die. An airline that can’t fly shouldn’t fly. Ban philanthropy and charity and government doles. These are the stuff that create false hope and false Messiahs. Only a ruthless pursuit of greed by the whole population, and i mean the whole population, can save everyone. Any false hope is a poison that will result in farmer suicides ,in middle class frustration and a recklessness on part of the rich .From a farmer to a Vijay Mallya everyone should know that you can announce bankruptcy or hang yourself but no one is going to bail you out .This is the mantra of survival.

Choice is Yours

You have a choice . You want these leech like taxes or you want the Rozgar Yozna , Vikas Yojna , MNREGA,government schools that don’t teach , government hospitals where you will die if you have to die .The population can save enough if it is spared these indirect taxes to send their the kids to a decent school and buy a health Insurance of Rs. 1000-2000 per person . We need no taxes and we need no subsidies. Roll back your taxes and roll back your subsidies. We don’t want any doles.

Ride Horse

It’s been too long we have been hearing this ‘bakwas’ that government is subsidising fuel. My brothers at home can you send me my old college bicycle by Patna-Vasco express or I am seriously planning to buy a horse. The most pertinent question today is what is the approximate mileage of a horse per Kg of grass and 'chana'?

Feeling Bored

I am no expert in animal psychology . For that matter I am no expert in human psychology. I am just as much an observer as you are .But I suppose at the heart of the problem of human development lies the feeling of boredom . Had humans not been bored they would never have cared to invent the fire and the wheel and the planes and the rockets and the green house gases and whatever runs with that .I think people of America supported a war in Iraq more out of reasons of boredom than out of need for oil or for security . With a boss let lose all day in office u just want to be entertained with some live stuff at the end of the day . And whats better to  watch than live planes and rockets taking off . Live men and women taking on an old despot still acting young .A bomb blowing off 3 appartments in Iraq with 300 people and an equal number of bodies and twice that number of eyes and four times that number of limbs always takes away more boredom out of your soul than watching friends season 7 for the seventh time or shall we compare it with nintendo . I am bad with video games except “roadrash.” And i think i should play it now .

Satyamev Jayate - Child Abuse - Episode 2

Aamir Khan as an amazing Anchor of Satyamev Jayate

We were really fed up of rabble rousing newsroom anchors. And I am not one of those politically unattached people who want to have nothing to do with social issues. Indeed social issues were for most part of my life my only hobby .But the television anchors proved with endless effort that they were all sound and fury signifying nothing .Television has become cacophony, mostly.

The amazing thing about Aamir Khan is that he really brings out the feeling that issues are real .They are about us not about the society , not about the government. They can and do happen to us, they do happen around us. And most importantly the way he presents it it really strikes a chord in our hearts.

Issue of Child Abuse

The issue of child abuse is a complex one to assess. The data presented by Aamir Khan says more than 53 per cent of people of our country have gone through some form of abuse at some point of childhood .Like female infanticide it is common people you and me who are victims as well as perpetrators . It is a not even a social problem like female infanticide. It is a personal problem. It is moreover a personal problem to half the population of our country if the data that Aamir Presented is right.

Dimentions of Discussion

And there are several dimentions to the whole issue like children themselves getting sexually active at very early age , like consensual fondling among children of almost the same age ,like incest or even more serious issue of childhood pregnancy, or social issues like child marriage or educational issues like lack of understanding sexual change in a young kids body when it is actually happening .Then there are still more complex syndromes which only psychytrists would be able to discuss . There is also issue of some kids knowing early in their young life that they are not exactly what the society straight in terms of their sexual orientations .We need to decriminalise and socially accept these behaviors too.

Discussing Taboos

Aamir Khan has proved that if you are sensitive enough there is no censure in India. No one is asking why he is discussing these issues which are a taboo in Indian Society on a Sunday morning when whole family sits around the TV . Its most amazing finding family members actually asking each other to sit down and watch this programme.

Part of our Drawing Room Discussion

Amir Khan has done the single biggest favour to us by making sex a part of our drawing room discussion .High time our nation demystifies sex . Sex is an integral part of our lives and it needs to be understood well , very well in early part of our lives .Even without information ,without knowledge, people will indulge in sexual activities cause it is part of our genetic code .It’s better that our kids understand their behaviour in right perspective .

Coming out of the Guilt

Rape or sexual abuse is only not a crime like any other physical assault. It is also different from consensual sex which even teenagers or pre-teenagers engage in. It is also different from kids exploring that they are gay or lesbians or bisexual .Rape or abuse has one distinct feature. It continuously works on the psyche of the victim. As soon as a victim of assault is able to come out of the guilt feeling he has worked his way out of the mental trauma.

Aamir's Workshop

Aamir's workshop was amazing. I must congratulate the specialists for creating this workshop for Aamir .Without trivialising the issue and considering that the workshop was for children it was amazing the way he executed the workshop and its content. People who oppose sex education should see how things need to be presented to children. Children are intelligent enough to understand if they are told what is right and wrong.

Passion of the Satyamev Jayate crew

If you are passionate enough it doesn’t matter what people think. Aamir Khan has proved that if you are sensitive enough there is no censure, there can be no censure. Kudos to Aamir Khan and the crew of Satyamev Jayate . If you can discuss such issues which are deep seated Taboo in our mind and in our society, on a Sunday Morning show you have already changed the nation.

Satyamev Jayate

Amir Khan has just brought to limelight the single biggest collective crime of our society.
Satyamev Jayte is an eyeopener. The criminal is not hiding in some rural viallage he is eveywhere all around us.The crime of gender discrimination epitomised in vast numbers in what we call female foeticide needa to be throughly debated. Its a now or never thing.
Ihave always held that the Indian Common man is not the innocent guy he is really made out in R K Laxman cartoons.Indeed the common Indian is an Eve teaser on road, is a molester in private , is a dowry hungry father during marraige of his Son is well known. It may be very easy for intellectuals to blame corruption on politicians though the genesis of this is the very fact that we Indians are ready with bribe for the slightest of inconvinience.It is also well known that we the people of India have a bias against other caste ,race ,religion, region, and every thing that makes someone else as other.
Kudos to Amir Khan and company for brining out in a rather solemn way that we not only are typically biased against the other we are as much biased against our very own. Just if the very own is a little inconvinience to us in this gender obsessed country of ours.
The common Indian is indeed a criminal and has always been so. From the days when Sati was in fashion to this day when killing females in the womb is acceptable to our society.Indeed if the data is read correctly one 1 in every 10 household is a murderer.Its time a tough law is made against the pathetic common man like the law against Sati. This is cold blooded murder and its time our intellectuals and politicians treat it that way. I have no hopes from the people who will continue this pathtic culture of our country which is age old and runs in the veins and blood of our country. Since independence our country has changed but only for the worse as far as female foeticide is concerned and this can not change by treating murderers with Kids Gloves.

Who will be the Next President of India

Whenever people start saying that a consensus is required its better you start thinking of John Nash and game theory rather than a group of buddies trying to elect a captain of a football team . Now for the Presidential candidate everyone agrees that there should be consensus. This just means that each party is clearly saying that it is quite serious about the choice of the candidate and that it will hold its negotiating position at all cost . In decent words every party holds that it has a numerical say and will hold on to its viewpoint at all cost .

It is amazing how people with no mass support the the ones clearly favorite for the position of the president . Anyways if popularity really mattered Sachin should have been the Prime Minister and Manmohan Singh would have found it difficult to get a place in his his village panchayat.In the schemes of powerplay it is the skills to first appear in limelight and then sail through somehow is what

Our present President Pratiba Patil is really the great symbol of the fact that you never know what qualities are really needed to make sure you first get the nomination and sail through till the end .

Quite a few people have hogged the limelight this election season . Lets see who really can slip through such hard negotiating positions for the coveted position of the President of Republic of India . The front runners are

1.Abdul Kalam - I am very sure he wont be able to make it this time . One of his problems is that he is not really apolitical . And that is his strength. But somehow the numbers dont add up to make sure he becomes the Presidential candidate . Since the left opposes his by default configuration Mamta supports him . But therein hangs the tale . A really scared Congress party would not like to deal with a Mamta supported President when Mamta pulls out in one of her fits of anger over virtually anything . He is ofcourse the BJP candidate hence he has to be opposed by all means by the left .

2.Hamid Ansari - He has the best chances as of date . He is from Congress .Is from minority community hence atleast stands a chance . Else one has to be atleast a Dalit to get to this position these days . Most importantly he has avoided getting popular in his 5 years as Vice President . He is ofcourse a threat to nobody . BJP may not want him . Even his own party congress may not like him . But these are the days when the allies reign while the Rulers have to kneel down and pay homage .

3.P A Sangma - Since the name has cropped up once or twice we must mention him ,If Sharad Pawar is as rich as he is rumoured to be he will really have to spend big time to get him in . He can even bully congress given its electoral situation and threatning allies .He is from North East so although he is not a Muslim or a Dalit ,still he is in recokning

4.E Shreedharan - People know that he is efficent and he likes to really work . He has no known political connections but as mush as I know of this dirty world no one who has reigned for so long managing such big government projects without some invisible political had firmly behind the back.If efficiency was truly rewarding this country would have had efficient people . This is not corruption . Managing the support of powerful people was never corruption. This is what politics should be all about.

5.Pranab Mukherjee - I think he is the most arrogant politician in India without an equivalent political standing . Indeed if you have to feel the arrogance of the Gandhi family you have to watch any of his interviews . The Gandhi family never really talks these days be it Rahul , Sonia or Priyanka .They wield power through such dummies . He is close to those who matter .DMK has said yes to his name and Mamta might as well say yes to him . Hope thats enough to make him sail through.

5. Anna Hazaare - Who knows ??? Is there a better way to silence a man than making him the President of India.