At first glance, Union minister K.J. Alphons’s statement that people who own two-wheelers and cars are not starving and that they can afford to pay more for fuel looks rooted in social justice. However, a closer examination would reveal this statement to be far from the truth. It is amazing that a retired bureaucrat like Alphons who does not have the ability to get elected anywhere talks through his hat.
Such people have spent their whole lives ensconced in exclusive rooms and ill treating the average citizen. There are very few bureaucrats who, after a few years of service, have a penchant to travel and meet their ‘subjects’. The complexity that is the Indian administration of today, has been the creation of babus like Alphons who are incapable of understanding that a dip in fuel prices does not really matter only to small vehicle owners.
Little do they understand that a drop in diesel prices cuts the cost of transportation of essential commodities, food grains, perishables and even medicines. This directly transfers to the cost of the goods consumed by the poorest of the poor. Therefore, it is ridiculous to hear a former bureaucrat made a Union minister talk irresponsibly and create a bad image of the whole Union government.
India’s middle and lower middle class cannot be equated with similar social classes in the developed world as their incomes are much lower. In fact, bulk of this class spend the lion’s share of their incomes on essentials like food, housing, healthcare, children’s education, looking after their aged and building up reserves for their own retirement.
Most middle class and lower middle class people purchase two-wheelers as the public transport system run by government monopolies is grossly inefficient, inadequate and undependable. In India’s major cities and even in tier-II and tier-III cities and towns it is impossible to get to the workplace and return by using government run transport. For these people, a two-wheeler or a small car is not a luxury.
Heaping taxes on these groups and refusing to provide cheaper mass transport is nothing but gross injustice. If the government levies heavy taxes on fuel, it becomes incumbent upon the government to ensure less expensive and much more efficient transportation systems both for people and goods. You cannot have the cake and eat it too.
