BAD AND UGLY REFORMS

BAD AND UGLY REFORMS

Surya P Sethi has demolished the Kirti Parikh committee report on pricing of petroleum products into pieces by a very well, factual situation based, argument in his article “When Bold Isn’t Beautiful” [Feb-18]. He has excellently portrayed the consequences of any proposed hike in the petroleum prices. Clearly the report is not a “Bold and beautiful” one but a “Bad and ugly report “as far as the ‘aam aadmi’ is concerned. Petroleum product prices have been ruling quite high in our country primarily due to the high and unreasonable taxes on them. The state and the central governments have been treating petroleum products as cash cows for their taxation purposes. This must come to an end in the larger interest of the country.

Like, food and water, ‘fuel ‘in the form of petroleum products is a necessity of the common man or the ‘aam aadmi’. Therefore the governments are duty bound to provide the petroleum products at reasonable and affordable prices not only to the common man but also to all other citizens of the society. The Kirti Parikh committee report on pricing of petroleum products, therefore, needs to be rejected , lock stock and barrel, which it truly deserves.