Opinion Social insecurity

“The UPA-II government during the last one year has made a mockery of the very concept of social security. The employees pension scheme has ceased to be a social security scheme. There has been no upward revision of the quantum of pension promised by the government when the pension scheme was introduced,” he says. Besides,he points out that the rate of interest on the provident fund deposit has been brought down from 12 to 8.5 per cent which has brought down the pension amount. “Some of the workers are getting ridiculously low amount of pension which at times becomes less than Rs 100 per month. The unilateral decision of the government to invest a part of the pension fund in share market has made pension fund a source of speculative gains for stock market manipulators,” he says.

Oil float

An article on oil pricing policy in New Age veers away from conventional Left wisdom on the lowering of petrol and diesel prices. It says the pricing of petroleum products must not be a matter of political populist bargaining.

Since the global oil market is volatile,the article argues for decisive steps to curb the market demand of petroleum products in the country and pricing of petroleum products should be determined by this consideration. “It is totally wrong to make the demand for low prices for petroleum products as a priority ingredient in the campaign for inflation control by the government,” it says. This is surprising,since the Left has been claiming that the hike in excise and customs duties of fuel products would have a cascading effect and should be withdrawn. The article further points out that the “beneficiaries of low prices of petroleum products,after all,are not people below the poverty line but are mainly the upper crust in Indian society. Some moderation in case of kerosene,may be held within limits,if its supplies to the poor is strictly rationed.”

Fixer upper

An article titled “Why do we still have file chasers” talks about the changing face of liaison tactics employed by industrial houses over the years. From chasing files and greasing the palms of low-level bureaucrats in the pre-liberalisation era,it says things seems to have reached such a stage under the UPA that every action of the government is “fixed” by lobbies.

Earlier,individual MPs were alleged to be on the pay role of industrial houses while some ministers in rare cases were susceptible. Among officials,they could tackle only those up to the under secretaries. But now “the new tribe (of lobbyists) hardly work on individual MPs. Instead the target is senior ministers and ruling party officials,” it says. Referring to media reports,it says “everything has a price — contracts for airports,highways and power plants,getting mining and mineral leases,pricing of gas and petroleum,spectrum allocation,opening up financial sectors for outsiders,FDI in retail trade,permission for foreign education shops,Bt seeds,taxation,tariffs and imports,” it says. “The lobbyists’ first move,we are told,is to create a favourable public opinion through the media followed by seminars and talk shows. Simultaneously begins the push with ministers. Then the EGoM or experts group set up and the final notification,” it claims. Yet,neither the government nor the party has done anything to clear the air.

It says the reason for the official tolerance to the fixer raj was the misplaced notion that lobbying was an integral part of liberalisation regime. Over a dozen specific cases of scandals and scams have appeared in the media in the last three months alone,it says.

Compiled by Manoj C.G.