Economic Survey and ISRO Retirees
Hey…. You thought I am
talking about the North and South poles ? No … Take it literally … I am
talking about all of us ISRO retirees and the Economic Survey presented by the CEA yesterday.
Why I am trying to mix the steel with water is, it matters a lot for us.
First :
The Economic Survey 2015-16
says that 7CPC and OROP implementation is a BURDEN on the exchequer.
We all know that this is a burden and not a BURDEN !
The Once-in-a –
decade Pay Commission will certainly
bring in burden on Govt finances. Why
did the Govt not understand that the wage/salary and pension revisions should
be more frequent ( every 2 or 3 years
!). Such revisions will bring in small
increases in loads if atall they are loads on finances.
The Govt must be knowing that there has to be an increase in
this load. Why didn’t you plan things to accommodate such increases ? Why
did you not plan to invest well for increased returns for meeting the burden ? You made the burden a BURDEN.
Well … I don’t like to say anything more here
.
Second :
Before I tell you something on this , you should confirm
yourself that you belong to this class .
All of us … no…. Most of us …. No …. Many of us … no … Some of
us …. Err… may be right … now what’s right among this ? Let me say, many of us are Tax payers. So , Be
proud ! We are good citizens ! We are
among the 5.5 % of the “well-off” in India who pays tax. Rest of the
well-off are non-tax-payers . As the Govt needs more Tax collection the net
is about to be spread. So no more
raising the tax exemption threshold. So….
3 Lakh exemption in 2015-16 is 3 Lakh
exemption in 2016-17. Moreover since you
are in the net , you can continue to be
in the comfort of the net in the future too.
Third :
The media reports say
that there is a section in the Economic Survey report called “Bounties
for the well-off” . It says , there
are 7 major areas where the well-off are subsidized.
Kerosene 5501
Cr. Yes … I think I am getting a subsidy for my ONE Litre
quota of Keresene from the Ration shop. Dear FM , please take off that subsidy.
Railways 3670
Cr. Yes … You are offering me 40%
reduction in fares for my travel in Railway. If you want us
(these old guys !) to pay full for our once-in-a-while travel, no problem … Make it so…
Electricity 37170
Cr. No…no… I don’t think I am
getting any subsidized Electricity . Please find out who gives to whom.
LPG 40151 Cr. Yes I understand that about Rs. 150/= per cylinder (and 10 cylinders in an year ) is paid
back to me as subsidy. OK… If you are so
firm on it I don’t mind … Take it off !
Gold 4093 Cr. My God,
You should not offer any subsidy to buy Gold for any one. Take it off immediately.. Right now !
Aviation Turbine Fuel
762 Cr. I need not comment at
all . No need to subsidise things like this ( By the by, who asked for this
subsidy ? )
Small Savings
11900 Cr. First you should know that Small Savings
means NSC, Post Office deposits and PPF. I never knew that my small savings are subsidized. I thought these are Govt’s competitive ways of fund collections from public. Govt must be using these huge amounts for investing in various programmes that generate
income. And so Govt is paying interest
on the deposits , hardly 0.5 % more than
the Bank deposits. Ooh … If you have a well-thought decision to take
off the subsidy (?) ... Ok. But I am sure, your intentions will falter.
That’s the end of the story of 7 subsidies from the Economic
Survey Report. Now, let’s wait for Feb
29 ! We’ll listen to Mr. Jaitly. He is ready with more subsidies. He'll give and take subsidies.
After all, let's pray .. He should not subsidise the 7CPC recommendations.
You left the most important 2 elements, petrol and diesel. Some time ago there was a demand by Kerala High Court , on the undue increase in petrol /diesel prices by Rs 5, that the oil companies should produce the details of account which demands the price increase. Till now I have not seen anything on this in the media.
ReplyDeleteComing to these elements,
1)The subsidy is effectively reduction of the tax only. In the correct sense there is no subsidy (another term for 'discount' by corporates) here. If properly calculated the production cost+ profit will be much less than the current sales price.
2)The Government FOOLISHLY allowed the Diesel vehicles for personal use. They should have resisted the foreign automobile companies introduction of diesel cars. The production of diesel vehicles continue even today. Today the government is indicating that the subsidy of diesel is used only 2% by the poor! I fail to understand this 2% poor, who use diesel and for what purpose. Do they say that the heavy transport and carrier vehicles are not serving the poor(though they are owned by the rich)?
3) Subsidy of petrol - how the expects to be used more by the poor and for which purpose? By the definition of their 'poor', no body will be in need of petrol for their use. So the statistics given is a fool's statement.
4)This is the Govt. (may not be BJP) which lured the public to use LPG as cooking fuel and not to use wood or kerosene which is required for industrial purposes. Today the public is being tortured on this issue of subsidy and number of cylinders. they should remember that the LPG is the last, waste product of the refinary and all it is to be charged is the cylinder, bottling and distribution expenses.If not used the gas is left to the atmosphere.
5)The Govt. also is to remember that they are to give the diesel and electricity to the farmers at a reduced (subsidised) rate, this being a farmers country. It is the responsibility of the Govt. and not a burden on them. they should also remember the extending of "tax holidays, uninterrupted lower rate electricity, diesel, free land (misused later) etc." for the huge industries, which ultimately put this country to cough up more fund to maintain health and environment issues.
But the Govt. does not bother about this because they get 'money'