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I've not read in detail the issues around the Bandh in India, but put simply it goes something like this:
(1) The Congress led government says there has to be fuel price hikes, since the subsidy for fuel is insufficient to keep pace with rising demand. The government has ear marked about 3,000 crore ($638 million) to subsidize petrol, diesel, kerosene and LPG. Whilst the actual demand for such products in India will reach 98,000 crore ($20 billion. HT Karan Thapar)
(2) The Opposition ranging from the far-left to the far right however state that this is all rubbish, and that price hikes are not necessary, and are only taking place due to the incompetence and mismanagement of the government.
Who's right? Who is wrong? What policies should be implemented for long term amelioration of the problem?
My Masters in International Law at Warwick University 14 years ago focused on India, its corruption, human rights commission, environmental policies and its macro-economic policies around IMF implemented Structural Adjustment Programs (SAP--which in American street slang means looser), and since then I have taken a casual if somewhat superficial interest in India's economic development.
One really ought to read Greg Pallast in relation to this issue, and his acute analysis of how the IMF/WB through their implementation of austerity policies defacto exploit and loot the wealth of Third World nations and facilitate the long term asset stripping and resourcing stealing of such unfortunate countries through the manipulation of a narrow corrupt elite placed into power by the USA and its various Democracy Programs, to serve the interests of the International Banking community.
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.
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I've not read in detail the issues around the Bandh in India, but put simply it goes something like this:
(1) The Congress led government says there has to be fuel price hikes, since the subsidy for fuel is insufficient to keep pace with rising demand. The government has ear marked about 3,000 crore ($638 million) to subsidize petrol, diesel, kerosene and LPG. Whilst the actual demand for such products in India will reach 98,000 crore ($20 billion. HT Karan Thapar)
(2) The Opposition ranging from the far-left to the far right however state that this is all rubbish, and that price hikes are not necessary, and are only taking place due to the incompetence and mismanagement of the government.
Who's right? Who is wrong? What policies should be implemented for long term amelioration of the problem?
My Masters in International Law at Warwick University 14 years ago focused on India, its corruption, human rights commission, environmental policies and its macro-economic policies around IMF implemented Structural Adjustment Programs (SAP--which in American street slang means looser), and since then I have taken a casual if somewhat superficial interest in India's economic development.
One really ought to read Greg Pallast in relation to this issue, and his acute analysis of how the IMF/WB through their implementation of austerity policies defacto exploit and loot the wealth of Third World nations and facilitate the long term asset stripping and resourcing stealing of such unfortunate countries through the manipulation of a narrow corrupt elite placed into power by the USA and its various Democracy Programs, to serve the interests of the International Banking community.
You might say what has the "market" reality of the price of oil at $80 a barrel got to do with the IMF/WB. Quite a lot if you look at the whole Capitalist Western system which is rigged to exploit the masses and especially vulnerable Third Word nations in favor of the few, again in the West. Otherwise known as Neo-colonialism.
Neo-liberalism, Globalization, Monetarism and Deregulation all sounded so great when they are expounded enthusiastically from the early 1980's, by the USA and their well funded fronts in academia and the global media as a globalist International Banker policy.
But the actual reality is that such policies haven't worked for many countries. In the case of Russia and Argentina specifically when teams of neo-liberal advisers from American Think Tanks arrived to manage these two countries, the result were unmitigated disasters, from which Argentina and Russia are still barely recovering from.
Within America itself now there are many economic problems which are all compounded by rising unemployment, and a national debt which is greater than the national economy. China is in a position to decide America's economic future........and not the Federal Reserve.
In India there is this general talk of 'development' but the reality is that many Indians still live in abject poverty. 840 million Indians still live on 20 rupees a day, and one meal of rice a day. On the other hand India has 55 billionaires and is host to the second richest man on earth with a $100 billion personal fortune. He is contemplating and constructing a $2 billion Penthouse. The richest man on earth hails from Mexico, but let us not discuss the problems of that backyard American colony and its multiple challenges at all levels. I cannot honestly believe that you can morally call national development that which leaves behind and neglects the vast majority of ordinary Indians basic needs.
CHEAP FOOD.
MODEST HOUSING WITH BASIC FACILITIES.
FREE EDUCATION UP TO THE AGE OF 16.
FREE HEALTHCARE.
CHEAP FUEL/TRANSPORT.
The neo-colonial Anglicized elite of India who have looted and denied real across the board development of the masses in South Asia can hardly ask the masses NOW to be the first shock troops in line to make more sacrifices on the meager basics of food and fuel, whilst the Anglicized Indian elite lord it up in London, NY and heaven knows where else with their secret off shore accounts with looted Indian assets worth up to $1,500 billion.
There is absolutely no paradox that such neo-liberal International Banker policies should be implemented by a 'leftie" party with secularism as its foundation. Congress as the 'Liberation" Party went seriously downhill under Indira Gandhi when she became the first dynasty entitled leader of the Party. PM ManMohan Singh the neta was recruited as an agent of the International Bankers over 20 years ago, and with his nicey smile, and geriatric manners, he has been slowly implementing their policies in India.......The International Bankers learnt their lesson in Russia and Argentina; you can't implement such policies suddenly in such a complex country as India, otherwise you are courting disaster.
Backing sardarji is the Italian mafia sinisterly operating in the background, in the guise of illiterate Sonia a former au pair, who is hoping her son the playboy Rahul becomes the next Raja of India. This is all a comical farce.....a Priyadarshan movie. No wait its real life.
WHAT IS OIL?
Oil is not a fossil fuel. The Russian scientist who originally theorised that oil was created by decomposing dinosaurs in the 18th century was wrong, when Russian scientists under Stalin 200 years later discovered that oil was a NATURAL occurring MINERAL produced by earth, and thus without limits, enough for everybody into infinity, and so long as the earths core does not freeze, like Mars.
In theory oil can be a free commodity, after governments have paid for refining, storage and transport costs, but it isn't. The industry is dominated by a few Western companies based in the USA, France, UK/Holland. They as private Capitalist companies think only in terms of profit, and the commodity market for oil is dominated by financial cartels in NY, Rotterdam, London and Germany. This cartel artificially keeps the price of oil high at $80 a barrel, but at one time went as high as $150 a barrel. There is no justification for this. Such prices hurt the poor, and poor nations, and poor nations development.
India can protect itself from this Western fix and market rigging by:
By investing in nuclear power which uses local fuels.
Wind/solar/wave power.
Hydrogen power.
further exploitation of India's vast coal reserves......without being hemmed in by Climate Change hogwash policies.
AND finally investing heavily in oil and gas exploration within India and off shore, as well as sources in the near far countries such as Myanmar, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran. The alternatives sources of power mentioned above will take time to be fully utilized, and thus oil and gas into eternity because of its nature will still be an essential source of energy for all nations. (India $ 2.1 billion earmarked by government, and China $32 billion for oil exploration, India’s oil import bill reached US$ 85.47 billion in 2009-10 Priyanka Bhardwaj TOI)
India is rich. Its actual economy measured by PPP is around $3600--3800 billion; the fourth richest nation on earth, and which will become the third richest in just a few years. India has money and India has resources. The Indian government frequently spends billions on worthless foreign defense equipment...billions...billions...billions, when focus should be made on domestic production of defense equipment, even if its substandard.
This practice carries on by all parties because it makes certain politicians, netas, senior military officers and arms middlemen in India rich, and they deposit the money in off shore accounts (Indira Gandhi and her family have been implicated, as have others)..............now imagine this elite putting the same amount of effort into securing India's gas & oil needs, by investing the necessary funds and implementing the necessary policies to make India self sufficient in gas and oil.
BUT they won't as International banker pawns. For them what is more important is to plug in India into the International Banker policies, and global economy.
What is 3,000 crore fuel subsidy by the government?.......0.05% of GDP ($638 million) of the official Indian economy of $1300 billion. According to Karan Thapar this subsidy bill will rise to 98,000 crore or $20 billion in this financial year which the Indian government allegedly can't sustain.
Unfortunately this subsidy bill is seen as a COST, a burden on the state, rather than seeing it as another indicator of the India's economic rise, and booming economy.............like the Ambani building his $2 billion penthouse; Shobha De bragging on about her latest foray into a luxury hotel in India and outside........or India spending $10 billion or is it going to be eventually $20 billion on a 4th generation jet fighters whose technology will soon be out of date, from a foreign country.
Seeing fuel subsidy for the masses as a COST and burden which the government can't pay for is a neo-liberal alien Western concept. $20 Billion or 98,000 crore estimated fuel subsidy bill this year is still 0.5% of the real Indian economy as measured by PPP of $3600--3800 billion.
The Indian Budget of $200 billion is woefully too small. Only 15% of the official GDP...........a neo-liberal paradise. The government thus must find serious strategies to increase the budget to GDP ratio from the current 15% to at least 25% of GDP, through an effective new tax regime. Then in such a prosperous confident India governments won't feel mean spirited about spending a paltry 1% on fuel subsidy.
Subsidies are the only way, in the complete absence of a SOCIAL SECURITY SYSTEM to give a little help to the masses......Bakshish.
Thus I support annual subsidized national health-care to the tune of 4-5% of GDP.
I support annual subsidized national education for all up to the age of 16, spending 6% of GDP on education.
I support annual subsidized national development and infrastructure investment to the tune of 10% of GDP.
I support annual subsidized agricultural policies to the tune of 3% of GDP.
I support annual subsidized fuel to the tune of 1% of GDP, at least.
These can only be achieved by governments who accept that in power and in government they have a moral duty to uplift the masses beyond paying lip service to their needs, whilst privately pursuing neo-liberal banana republic policies which slowly steals even the meager basics of the masses, such as food and fuel.
Is a Bandh an effective response to the International Bankers programs in India?
I think Bandh's of a sort played a certain role in India's eventual liberation.
Bandh's are a non-violent and effective pure representation and affirmation of popular public opinion. Public opinion, beyond the misrepresentation presented by the "official' media seems to be broadly supportive of the bandh against general price rises.
Thus bandh starkly brings home the message to the government about the publics discontent about certain key areas.
ON THE OTHER HAND......bandh should not be the default option for ALL protests against governments, and thus should be used sparingly.
One notes in failed state Bangladesh, managed by the UK and USA, hartal's (bandh's) were a common feature of everyday life. Unfortunately such action resulted in the loss of 30% of GDP by some estimates.......but my personal experience was that everybody loved them. Relatives of mine working for the government as civil servants didn't have to go to work, even though they were being paid......a kind of impromptu "holiday' where the "tash" were brought out and a general worthless adda carried on whilst the real economy suffered.
In India hartals or bandh's for short spurts are perfectly legitimate, especially for the private non-government sector, BUT not to the point where it results in causing national Hari-Kiri, and significant losses in production in relation to GDP. Below 1% GDP losses is OK.
Bandh's also hurt the 840 million Indians who rely on their day to day earnings to live for the day, and don't have savings to fall back on.......(Indian blogger)
Of course if such action is extremely effective who is to say the government in power, later in opposition aren't tempted to use the very same tactic against the new government, and a vicious cycle sets in.
Finally on this point if one has read Grag Pallasts incisive article about IMF riots:
Neo-liberalism, Globalization, Monetarism and Deregulation all sounded so great when they are expounded enthusiastically from the early 1980's, by the USA and their well funded fronts in academia and the global media as a globalist International Banker policy.
But the actual reality is that such policies haven't worked for many countries. In the case of Russia and Argentina specifically when teams of neo-liberal advisers from American Think Tanks arrived to manage these two countries, the result were unmitigated disasters, from which Argentina and Russia are still barely recovering from.
Within America itself now there are many economic problems which are all compounded by rising unemployment, and a national debt which is greater than the national economy. China is in a position to decide America's economic future........and not the Federal Reserve.
In India there is this general talk of 'development' but the reality is that many Indians still live in abject poverty. 840 million Indians still live on 20 rupees a day, and one meal of rice a day. On the other hand India has 55 billionaires and is host to the second richest man on earth with a $100 billion personal fortune. He is contemplating and constructing a $2 billion Penthouse. The richest man on earth hails from Mexico, but let us not discuss the problems of that backyard American colony and its multiple challenges at all levels. I cannot honestly believe that you can morally call national development that which leaves behind and neglects the vast majority of ordinary Indians basic needs.
CHEAP FOOD.
MODEST HOUSING WITH BASIC FACILITIES.
FREE EDUCATION UP TO THE AGE OF 16.
FREE HEALTHCARE.
CHEAP FUEL/TRANSPORT.
The neo-colonial Anglicized elite of India who have looted and denied real across the board development of the masses in South Asia can hardly ask the masses NOW to be the first shock troops in line to make more sacrifices on the meager basics of food and fuel, whilst the Anglicized Indian elite lord it up in London, NY and heaven knows where else with their secret off shore accounts with looted Indian assets worth up to $1,500 billion.
There is absolutely no paradox that such neo-liberal International Banker policies should be implemented by a 'leftie" party with secularism as its foundation. Congress as the 'Liberation" Party went seriously downhill under Indira Gandhi when she became the first dynasty entitled leader of the Party. PM ManMohan Singh the neta was recruited as an agent of the International Bankers over 20 years ago, and with his nicey smile, and geriatric manners, he has been slowly implementing their policies in India.......The International Bankers learnt their lesson in Russia and Argentina; you can't implement such policies suddenly in such a complex country as India, otherwise you are courting disaster.
Backing sardarji is the Italian mafia sinisterly operating in the background, in the guise of illiterate Sonia a former au pair, who is hoping her son the playboy Rahul becomes the next Raja of India. This is all a comical farce.....a Priyadarshan movie. No wait its real life.
WHAT IS OIL?
Oil is not a fossil fuel. The Russian scientist who originally theorised that oil was created by decomposing dinosaurs in the 18th century was wrong, when Russian scientists under Stalin 200 years later discovered that oil was a NATURAL occurring MINERAL produced by earth, and thus without limits, enough for everybody into infinity, and so long as the earths core does not freeze, like Mars.
In theory oil can be a free commodity, after governments have paid for refining, storage and transport costs, but it isn't. The industry is dominated by a few Western companies based in the USA, France, UK/Holland. They as private Capitalist companies think only in terms of profit, and the commodity market for oil is dominated by financial cartels in NY, Rotterdam, London and Germany. This cartel artificially keeps the price of oil high at $80 a barrel, but at one time went as high as $150 a barrel. There is no justification for this. Such prices hurt the poor, and poor nations, and poor nations development.
India can protect itself from this Western fix and market rigging by:
By investing in nuclear power which uses local fuels.
Wind/solar/wave power.
Hydrogen power.
further exploitation of India's vast coal reserves......without being hemmed in by Climate Change hogwash policies.
AND finally investing heavily in oil and gas exploration within India and off shore, as well as sources in the near far countries such as Myanmar, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran. The alternatives sources of power mentioned above will take time to be fully utilized, and thus oil and gas into eternity because of its nature will still be an essential source of energy for all nations. (India $ 2.1 billion earmarked by government, and China $32 billion for oil exploration, India’s oil import bill reached US$ 85.47 billion in 2009-10 Priyanka Bhardwaj TOI)
India is rich. Its actual economy measured by PPP is around $3600--3800 billion; the fourth richest nation on earth, and which will become the third richest in just a few years. India has money and India has resources. The Indian government frequently spends billions on worthless foreign defense equipment...billions...billions...billions, when focus should be made on domestic production of defense equipment, even if its substandard.
This practice carries on by all parties because it makes certain politicians, netas, senior military officers and arms middlemen in India rich, and they deposit the money in off shore accounts (Indira Gandhi and her family have been implicated, as have others)..............now imagine this elite putting the same amount of effort into securing India's gas & oil needs, by investing the necessary funds and implementing the necessary policies to make India self sufficient in gas and oil.
BUT they won't as International banker pawns. For them what is more important is to plug in India into the International Banker policies, and global economy.
What is 3,000 crore fuel subsidy by the government?.......0.05% of GDP ($638 million) of the official Indian economy of $1300 billion. According to Karan Thapar this subsidy bill will rise to 98,000 crore or $20 billion in this financial year which the Indian government allegedly can't sustain.
Unfortunately this subsidy bill is seen as a COST, a burden on the state, rather than seeing it as another indicator of the India's economic rise, and booming economy.............like the Ambani building his $2 billion penthouse; Shobha De bragging on about her latest foray into a luxury hotel in India and outside........or India spending $10 billion or is it going to be eventually $20 billion on a 4th generation jet fighters whose technology will soon be out of date, from a foreign country.
Seeing fuel subsidy for the masses as a COST and burden which the government can't pay for is a neo-liberal alien Western concept. $20 Billion or 98,000 crore estimated fuel subsidy bill this year is still 0.5% of the real Indian economy as measured by PPP of $3600--3800 billion.
The Indian Budget of $200 billion is woefully too small. Only 15% of the official GDP...........a neo-liberal paradise. The government thus must find serious strategies to increase the budget to GDP ratio from the current 15% to at least 25% of GDP, through an effective new tax regime. Then in such a prosperous confident India governments won't feel mean spirited about spending a paltry 1% on fuel subsidy.
Subsidies are the only way, in the complete absence of a SOCIAL SECURITY SYSTEM to give a little help to the masses......Bakshish.
Thus I support annual subsidized national health-care to the tune of 4-5% of GDP.
I support annual subsidized national education for all up to the age of 16, spending 6% of GDP on education.
I support annual subsidized national development and infrastructure investment to the tune of 10% of GDP.
I support annual subsidized agricultural policies to the tune of 3% of GDP.
I support annual subsidized fuel to the tune of 1% of GDP, at least.
These can only be achieved by governments who accept that in power and in government they have a moral duty to uplift the masses beyond paying lip service to their needs, whilst privately pursuing neo-liberal banana republic policies which slowly steals even the meager basics of the masses, such as food and fuel.
Is a Bandh an effective response to the International Bankers programs in India?
I think Bandh's of a sort played a certain role in India's eventual liberation.
Bandh's are a non-violent and effective pure representation and affirmation of popular public opinion. Public opinion, beyond the misrepresentation presented by the "official' media seems to be broadly supportive of the bandh against general price rises.
Thus bandh starkly brings home the message to the government about the publics discontent about certain key areas.
ON THE OTHER HAND......bandh should not be the default option for ALL protests against governments, and thus should be used sparingly.
One notes in failed state Bangladesh, managed by the UK and USA, hartal's (bandh's) were a common feature of everyday life. Unfortunately such action resulted in the loss of 30% of GDP by some estimates.......but my personal experience was that everybody loved them. Relatives of mine working for the government as civil servants didn't have to go to work, even though they were being paid......a kind of impromptu "holiday' where the "tash" were brought out and a general worthless adda carried on whilst the real economy suffered.
In India hartals or bandh's for short spurts are perfectly legitimate, especially for the private non-government sector, BUT not to the point where it results in causing national Hari-Kiri, and significant losses in production in relation to GDP. Below 1% GDP losses is OK.
Bandh's also hurt the 840 million Indians who rely on their day to day earnings to live for the day, and don't have savings to fall back on.......(Indian blogger)
Of course if such action is extremely effective who is to say the government in power, later in opposition aren't tempted to use the very same tactic against the new government, and a vicious cycle sets in.
Finally on this point if one has read Grag Pallasts incisive article about IMF riots:
"At this point, the IMF drags the gasping nation to Step Three: Market-Based Pricing, a fancy term for raising prices on food, water and cooking gas. This leads, predictably, to Step-Three-and-a-Half: what Stiglitz calls, "The IMF riot."
The IMF riot is painfully predictable. When a nation is, "down and out, [the IMF] takes advantage and squeezes the last pound of blood out of them. They turn up the heat until, finally, the whole cauldron blows up," as when the IMF eliminated food and fuel subsidies for the poor in Indonesia in 1998.(after the Asian financial crisis of 1997 instigated by Wall Street and George Soros) Indonesia exploded into riots, but there are other examples - the Bolivian riots over water prices last year and this February, the riots in Ecuador over the rise in cooking gas prices imposed by the World Bank. You'd almost get the impression that the riot is written into the plan."
In India nobody is suggesting that the far right and left are working with the IMF in organizing the bandh, or that food and fuel riots have actually occurred. The bandh was peaceful, well organized and had a limited start date and finish. However if the bandh becomes the main and only tool for the opposition to score points against Congress, then their actions can be termed as self defeating IMF instigated riots or the like, even if they are actually not because the end result will be the same.
