Indian planning officials today took a lesson from their Pakistani counterparts on ways to ensure relief to the under-privileged in the wake of rising oil prices and soaring inflation by providing direct subsidy to them as the latter has proposed to its populace in the form of Benazir Support Card besides seeking to introduce dual pricing in oil.Emerging from a meeting with the Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek S Ahluwalia, Pakistan's plan panel chief Salman Faruqui, the panel proposed to provide Rs 1,000 per month to every poor and disadvantaged households through the card and that owners of two-wheelers and small cars would be provided specified quantity of fuel at subsidised rates.Ahluwalia too voiced concern on rising oil prices, which posed a serious concern for India saying it could affect half to three-fourth of GDP growth. Soaring oil prices have sparked off major concerns as the oil companies are taking major hit on their bottomlines compelling government to raise petrol prices to offset some of the losses.Faruqui said the Benazir card is expected to provide direct subsidy to five to seven million poor people and cover about 20 per cent of Pakistan's population. Pakistan is currently heavily subsiding the oil sector and as a result of it, the non-poor are also getting benefitted. The scheme is being formulated in a way that poor are given subsidy, while those households, which can afford would pay current oil prices. Moreover, the visiting delegation indicated that they favoured introduction of dual pricing of fuel under which reprieve would be provided to owners of small cars and two-wheelers. "Ahluwalia appreciated the proposal and wanted to know how would it be executed," Planning Commission sources said. Replying questions on the issue of Iran-Pakistan-India pipeline Faruqui expressed the confidence that India would join the agreement. Commenting on the discussions, Ahluwalia said India and Pakistan are both oil deficit countries and "our interest are identical. Ahluwalia endorsed Finance Minister P Chidambaram's suggestion of a price band on oil prices saying prices should remain stable and reasonable. Pakistan also showed interest in agriculture and rural development sectors and India's strategy towards meeting energy needs. The biggest challenge in the region, according to Ahluwalia is to make the growth more inclusive so that its benefits reached the neglected and poor sections of the society. He said focused approach on pro-poor growth would be maintained while efforts would be made for meeting the country's growing energy needs.
