Karnataka elections

Irrespective of who emerges as the kingmaker or the uncrowned king in Karnataka, the prayer on the lips of the voters and other stakeholders in Karnataka is that the new incumbent shall lay stress on triggering economic growth, leading to creation of badly needed jobs for youth and resultant improvements in standards of living of the people. People are praying for a graft-free government dedicated to creation of better infrastructure, civic amenities, social harmony, education and health facilities for the people.

Facilitating all round ‘ease of living’ for the common man/woman struggling to survive, in both urban, semi-urban and rural areas across Karnataka, must top the agenda of the new government.

Belagavi

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has stunned everybody by hinting that he had no qualms if the Congress high command chooses a ‘Dalit chief minister’. This is contrary to what the Chief Minister has maintained all along: that he would head the State again.

The statement has fuelled speculation that veteran leader Mallikarjun Kharge or KPCC president G Parameshwar could be the CM if the Congress falls short of the required numbers and is forced to strike a pact with the JD(S) to form a coalition government. Despite several exit polls indicating a hung verdict, it is surprising that both the Congress and the BJP have made tall claims that they will get a full majority.

Bengaluru

With reference to ‘Petrol, diesel prices hiked 2 days after Karnataka election’ ( May 14), it goes without saying that a hike in the prices of petrol and diesel was bound to take place anytime, since the government of the day had kept them “artificially” frozen since April 24, fearing a political backlash in the wake of just concluded Karnataka elections. The only question was by how much. So the first dose of hike of a 17 paise and 21 paise a litre in the case of petrol and diesel (post Karnataka polls), respectively, has thus been “injected” in the economy.

Although oil marketing companies “dutifully” bowed to the government’s pressure by not raising the price of the auto fuels, the IOC Chairman has gone on record to claim that even though the benchmark prices of petrol and diesel were rising, they “were not backed by fundamentals”. So one genuinely expects him to come clean on the issue of the so called “fundamentals” for the benefit of the end-users.

However, in view of the fact that the benchmark international diesel rates during this period have climbed from $84.68 per barrel to $88.63 and the rupee has weakened to ₹67 per US dollar from ₹66.62, making imports costlier, the domestic prices of petrol and diesel may soon rise significantly, much to the discomfiture of retail consumers. More worrisome is that the government is unlikely to come to the consumers’ rescue by cutting excise duty. The government would be more interested in making good the ₹500-crore loss incurred by the state-owned oil marketing companies towards absorbing the upward revision in the global oil prices and fall in the value of the Indian rupee vis-a-vis US dollar.

Panchkula

With reference to ‘Cracking the rural consumption puzzle’, rural income is generally linked with farm income so it is heartening to note that now as much as 61 per cent of rural incomes are generated from rural manufacturing and services.

Rural consumption usually gets a boost after every good monsoon, but today, it is not dependent only on monsoon. Tractor sales from both Mahindra and Escorts have jumped manifold in last financial year, but it is spending in infrastructure through PMGSY and PM Awas Yojna that has given a major fillip to the consumption push.

Yes, the agriculture sector being in distress does not mean that Bharat is in dire straits, but non-farm income in the rural sector needs to be sustainable in long run.

That should be our government's endeavour.

Noida

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