LPG at subsidized rate to the consumers has turned out to be a ‘Joke’ in our country and the whole debate is political in nature to score brownie points against each other by politicians. Corruption rules roost in our country and the LPG gas pricing too one feels is not on par with global rates. Exorbitant taxes, leakages during transmission, overhead expenses of marketing and procurement companies push LPG gas prices to high levels in India. Plug these loopholes and the actual selling price of LPG would even drop below the subsidized rates being offered to the people at present.
Also, one feels that the LPG subsidy can be compared to the quota system in education or other fields. The benefit do not always reach the people who deserve them as they are too poor or unaware of their rights due to their financial status or lack of education. The benefit than is pocketed by the rich or people in power through corrupt means via schemes seldom understood by the people. The prime duty of the government should be to first make cooking gas stoves available in every home in every remote village of the country, provide employment to every citizen, target cent percent literacy in the country, check corruption and then there would actually be no need of subsidy in any field including pricing of LPG!
S.N. Kabra
(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)
