Manipur in the FDI debate :: Diesel price and cap on LPG
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: September 20, 2012 -

The debate over Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh's shock and awe treatment appears to centre more on the decision to allow Foreign Direct Investment in multi-brand retail, with the cap put at 51 percent, than on the decision to steeply hike the price of diesel and put the cap on domestic consumption of cooking gas at 6 filled LPG cylinders per year (being a Congress ruled State, the cap is 9 cylinders per year in Manipur) and this is what should be interesting to the people of Manipur.

Clearly nothing profiles a State than clearer than economic policies adopted by Delhi.

While the Ibobi Singh led Government has not said a word on FDI, in the face of the Centre making it clear that it would be left to the prerogative of the State Governments to decide on FDI, it is more than likely that FDI in multi-brand retail will only have the least, impact in Manipur.

Opening the door to foreign investors can only be a policy. Actually attracting the investors is what matters at the ground level.

Law and order situation is an alibi that has been bandied about for the convenience of the political class and the babudom to cover up for the utter lack of infrastructure, the dismal power supply scenario being the most prominent of all the failures.

Manipur comes nowhere near attracting foreign investment with even Indian companies keeping shy of making any substantial investment in the State. On this front, the people of Manipur may not have to unduly worry about India throwing its doors open to foreign investors in the retail segment.

It is the shock treatment that has come in the form of the hike in the price of diesel and putting the cap on consumption of cooking gas that would be felt much more than FDI here.

There may be some merit in the argument that diesel should not be spared the price hike as it is no longer the common man's fuel since a number of luxury model cars and SUVs which cost the sky run on 'diesel, and only people with extremely deep Dockets own these vehicles.

This however Will fail to pass muster in a State like Manipur, which is literally a road fed place. And heavy trucks and fuel tankers run only on diesel.

It is diesel which fuels the activities of the people here and the steep hike in its price is sure to pinch the pocket of the common people. v Definitely a kilogram of onion will not hit the Rs 80 mark, but the memory of the days during the economic blockade of last year is ominously real.

On the other hand the cap of 9 LPG cylinders per year seems like a poor joke, given the fact that consumers are able to receive only 4 or 5 of filled LPG in a year from the agency, before the cap came into force.

A wait of two or three months from the date of booking is what it is all about when it comes to the question of delivering cooking gas to the consumers.

The gas news column in the State newspapers does not lie. Now with the cap on, more room may just have been created to distort the supply chain and further inconvenience the people.