Building confidence

A lot of ground has been covered in the last eight months, although without much fanfare. Perhaps baffled at this silent mode of functioning, Pakistani journalists have assumed the forward momentum is lost. On the contrary, a Congress government has always extended a friendly hand to Pakistan. This government too wants to forge stronger ties, provided they don’t compromise our national interests.

Chaudhary Shujaat Hussain’s planned visit to India in March this year is certain to be a milestone in Indo-Pak relations. The leader of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League faction is the second most powerful person in Pakistan, after President Pervez Musharraf. Chaudhary Hussain’s younger brother, Pervez Illahi, is the chief minister of Punjab there. Musharraf too is known to bank on Hussain’s advice quite often. Hussain proposes to build bridges between political parties across the border, under the assumption that the two governments will automatically be friends then. He has already written to leaders of several political parties in India. And come March, he will personally meet them.

Litres of money

It is a classic case of misplaced identity. The Administered Price Mechanism (APM) for pricing petroleum products was made out to be a villainous instrument and a relic of the control economy, designed to protect and prevent free market trade in the petroleum and gas industry. Post-’90s, because the wind favoured economic reforms, all the regulatory mechanisms had to go. So out went the APM too. And with it went our chance to buy petrol at a fair and reasonable price. The twist is that it is neither the government nor the consumer who benefit from the new regime. Rather, it’s domestic producers of crude oil and refiners who are raking in huge profits. And while the media has been aware of this fact, some of us were surprised to hear it from a retired senior official of our oil-marketing PSU, at a recent meeting of the parliamentary standing committee on petroleum and natural gas.

The APM was dismantled to allow domestic oil prices to match up with international crude and product prices. Or to put it simply, to prevent the government from running into losses each time international prices scaled a new high. Had the APM existed till now, said the retired official, the price hike in petrol would have been much less than what it is today. In other words, the constant rise in international oil prices was contributing more to the coffers of our domestic refiners than to our petrol prices. Thanks to the new regime, he pointed out, these oil companies are now so cash-rich that they are spending lavishly on advertising and branding, without showing any evidence of increase in operational efficiency. Now a return to the APM is being suggested, besides the creation of a price-stabilization fund to shield from international price volatility. The throwback to the old regime will no doubt take some of the heat off domestic oil prices. At stake is the growth engine for our country’s economy, since cheaper petrol and diesel prices will naturally kickstart more transport and industrial activity, besides reducing the prices of goods and thus aiding consumption.

House of spirits

Muhammad Ali Jinnah was born in a sprawling bungalow facing the chief minister’s bungalow in Mumbai. Situated on the slope of the picturesque Malabar Hills, this historical and once beautiful building stands dilapidated and neglected today. There’s a board marking it as the ‘‘SAARC Cultural Centre’’, but little else. It is high time the Ministry of External Affairs decided whether to take charge and maintain the bungalow, or to hand over the estate to Pakistan. Somebody clearly has to take over and prevent the ruin of this historical property.

The writer is a Rajya Sabha MP. He can be reached at shuklarajeev@gmail.com