Congratulations to My Hero Sachin Tendulkar

I congratulate my great hero Sachin Tendulkar for surpassing Brian Lara to become the highest run getter in the history of Test match cricket. He has been an inspiration to a whole generation to move forward in their lives with commitment, humility and selflessness. March Ahead, the Master, you have more heights to scale.

Four years is a long time

Four years is a long time,
For an unrequited love,
To disappear into oblivion,
For painful memories of yore,
To become facts for awesome laughter,
For heavenly, divine enlightenment,
To set on minds of boorish thugs,
For a naive, indifferent lass,
To learn blissful lessons of motherhood,
For wise men to become insane,
Out of tragic twists of fate,
And four years is a long time,
For their lewd relationship,
To blossom into passionate love,
And in these last four years,
When they’ve stooped from bad to worse,
I’ve risen from bad to great.

Re-creating Mahabali’s Kerala – Possibilities and Impossibilities

When I was told to write about Onam, the first idea that came to my mind as a subject for the piece was the magnificence of the festival that marks the homecoming of the erstwhile legendary king of Kerala, the Mahabali. A detailed account of Onasadya, Athapookalam and all other related vibrant facts associated with Onam would make a really sumptuous article capable of arousing delighted interest. But let us attempt something different.

Kerala, under the rule of Mahabali was a near Utopia, where social, economic and political justice existed in near perfection and perfect harmony was at its zenith. Any thought, in the present world, about putting efforts towards re-creating such a state might sound absurd, but having such optimism is not entirely out of question, as some civilisations, through their hard work and bravado had often made the impossible, possible. Now, what are the changes that we should envisage to re-create such a perfect society? Is it really possible to make such a revolutionary change?

According to the legendary song Maveli naadu vaaneedum kaalam, equality was one of the striking features of the Mahabali’s kingdom. Establishing a society where there is perfect equality is an impossible task as discovered by socialist regimes like in China and Cuba. Economic, social as well as political inequality would be there as long as human life would be here in this universe. So the effort should be towards reducing this degree of inequality with adequate measures in the governmental level as well as individual level.

During Mahabali’s rule, there were no theft or deceit, nor were there any cheating or lies. All these factors seem to be directly related to economic and social inequality and hence they would be hopefully removed once near economic and social equality is established. And in Mahabali’s Kerala, there was no caste system and all human beings belonged to one single caste, humanity. Hence abolition of caste system is one of the most important pre-requisites for the re-creation of a perfect society.

There is no doubt that the tasks that we have to pursue to recreate a perfect society, like the kingdom of Mahabali, are daunting. Now as we know the things that we have to change to create a perfect society, we should be able to find the method that we should adopt to establish such a society. The good news is that the solution is pretty simple; but the bad news is that it is very hard to implement.

Education and knowledge is the simple solution that is available to us in creating such a perfect society. But the fact is that rendering education and imparting knowledge to the millions of people is a very difficult task, which to our amazement, Mahabali’s kingdom was able to do. A paradigm shift in the nature of education, from creation of possessive impulses like money and power to the creation of creative impulses like art and literature in the minds of the people, is imperative. Minds that become enlightened, after getting such an education, would be instrumental in creating a society that would be similar to one that Mahabali ruled.

Though preposterous it might sound at the outset, on serious thinking we could conclude that this is a novel and sensible thought as something has to be done immediately to stop us from becoming a group of people with scant regard for humanity and human life. So this Onam, in addition to tasting Onasadya and making Athapookalam, let us think about re-creating Mahabali’s Kerala and take our small steps towards achieving the “impossible”. May be in the future, history lessons that our children and grand children would learn, would speak about us as the persons who have shown the guts to think beyond the realm of possibility and have made the impossible, possible.

(Republished from the Onam edition of Pine Mag, the official magazine of Calpine Technologies, the firm where I work )

Presidential Nomination Acceptance Speech – Obama’s Telling Blow to McCain

The final phase of the American Presidential election has been reached with both the Democrats and Republicans announcing their Presidential candidate as well as the Vice Presidential candidate. While Barack Obama accepted the nomination at the Democratic convention at Denver with Senator Joe Biden of Delaware as his running mate, John McCain accepted the GOP nomination at the convention at Minneapolis choosing the Alaska Governor, Sarah Palin as his running mate. The nomination acceptance speech by both Obama and McCain threw some light on the character of these two men as well as the policies that they would pursue if elected the President of the United States.

Anyone who has followed this blog closely will understand that I am a strong supporter of Barack Obama. The reason for the support is based more on the personality and qualities of Obama as a leader and an orator than on the policies he vow he will follow. As Bill Clinton said in the convention, Obama has a remarkable ability to inspire people. And there is no doubt that he is one of the most prolific orators of our time, capable of arousing awe, respect and conspicuous motivation.

Obama used his acceptance speech to explain his policies and to counter the criticisms that McCain campaign has been pouring on him. He spoke about his Kenyan father and Kansas mother and their aspirations, spoke about his grandmother who sacrificed her pleasure and time to make sure that Obama got a good education and also spoke about how his mother argued with insurance companies for getting insurance while she was suffering from cancer. Thus by explaining in detail the struggles he and his family endured, he counter attacked McCain’s campaign, which often ridiculed Obama as a celebrity rather than a politician, by saying that “I don't know what kind of lives John McCain thinks that celebrities lead, but this has been mine.”

Barack Obama, who had often been criticised for his lack of offensive capabilities towards the McCain campaign, chose the occasion to show that he too has the gladiatorial daring which the Americans want in their President. He said that if John McCain wants to have a debate about who has the temperament, and judgment, to serve as the next Commander-in-Chief, that's a debate he is ready to have. While praising McCain for his record as a brave soldier in the American army during the Vietnamese war, Obama derided him by saying that he voted for President George Bush’s flawed policies ninety percentage of times and therefore by choosing McCain as the next President he don’t want to take a ten percent chance on change.

The major policy initiatives that Obama want to pursue include a cut in taxes, investment in affordable energy, investment in childhood education, providing accessible healthcare to all, close corporate loop holes on taxes, end the Iraq war responsibly, direct diplomacy to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons and to curb Russian “aggression” and fix the economy which is inching towards a recession.

Obama or McCain, the American foreign policy is not going to see a paradigm shift from the policy the country has been following for a very long time. But as we continue to despise the malevolent foreign policy that the Americans follow, we can hardly help ourselves from admiring the democracy prevailing there and the academic intelligence, acumen and quality of the politicians of various parties. The mutual respect with which Obama and McCain competes with each other is worthy of emulating in the Indian system of democracy as well.

If we Indians get jealous on the quality of politicians that the Americans have, one cannot find fault with us, especially when we are having a lot of politicians who are neither educated nor well behaved. As if this is not enough, we also have a lot of rogue politicians amidst us, who are not at all averse to making ghoulish comments even on the tears of a mother who had lost her son in a tragic event, as depicted recently by a boorish politician in Kerala.

Going back to Obama and his American promise, one can only hope that his aspiration to bring change to Washington will happen sooner rather than later. We can also hope that there will be some change in the warmongering nature of the United States under the Presidency of Barack Obama and peace and tranquillity will prevail in Iraq, Afghanistan and in the world in general. But for all these things to happen he has to win the Presidential election due on 4th November to be the first African-American to become the President of the United States.

A Valediction

Aimless life's long meander,
Destined to the ultimate tomb,
Arguments can hardly prosper,
An awry mind's desolate tread.

I have grown old for love,
And old for any youthful delight,
But once I had squandered my words,
For a beauty's worthless praise.

Why we men, I do ponder,
Stretch some bonds to eternity,
And pursue with expectations,
Rewards for our solicitude.

An advice for the senseless hearts -
Eternal bonds are bothersome,
And now I've this valedictory rhyme,
For my absurdly affectionate heart.

Abortion – The Ordeal and The Argument

After days of discussions on worthless matters of Indian politics, the people of India, for a change, discussed one serious issue. The issue divided Indians into two different and distinctive poles. The issue on discussion was the legal battle that two young couple from Mumbai fought for getting sanction to abort their 25-week-old foetus, as it was diagnosed with severe congenital cardiac problem. The Mumbai High Court denied the couple permission for abortion, as laws in India does not permit abortion after 20 weeks.

The Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act specifies that an abortion after 20 weeks can take place only if the foetus presents any grave medical risk to the mother. Experts say that there are serious flaws with this abortion law in India, which was made in 1971. Since then much water has flown under the bridge and the medical science has achieved many a serious milestones in diagnosing the health condition of a foetus. Gynaecologists point out that some of the serious health hazard that a foetus may have can be diagnosed and ascertained only after the completion of 22^nd week. So a law that doesn’t allow abortions after 20 weeks have serious imperfections. They also refer the laws followed in other countries like the United Kingdom, where abortions up to the 24^th week are legal.

It is quite imperative to take into perspective the mental agonies and physical worries that parents of children having congenital physical or mental afflictions undergo. The scene of your beloved child suffering under despairing pain is not something any parents would want to see. When medical science has improved so much, it is the responsibility of the human beings to use it in such a way that it reduces the distress and anguish that the mankind would face. Isn’t it right that we use advancement in medical science to improve the lives of people? Do we want to bring disabled people to this churlish world when we can avoid that? This is certainly not an argument in favour of bringing only the so-called “perfect babies” to this world. Even after such great advancement in the field of technology there are areas where human beings become helpless in making everything perfect in this world. So even if one tries to make “perfect babies”, there would be the invisible hands of this nature at work that would thwart his or her attempts. But as far as possible we can use technology to stop the occurrences of disabled children. This is not because we want only “perfect babies”, but this is because we want to create a world where there is less misery and desolation, both for children and for grown ups.

Are there any laws in India that would see to it that all medical and social needs of a disabled child would be met? The answer is a very categorical no. The parents of the disabled children have to carry the whole financial and emotional burden of the disability. As long as state does not have the resources to provide such financial aids to such children, it does not have the moral authority to say no to the abortion of foetuses with abnormality.

One of the harshest comments on the couple Niketa and Haresh came from a section in the society who ridiculed them for going to the court with this issue. They commented that the couple is so merciless that they don’t want their disabled foetus because they don’t have the interest to bring up their child with serious cardiac issues. Such sorts of comments are suited only to a barbaric society with scant regard to the emotional state of a mother-to-be, faced with such a distressing ordeal. It is not because the couple has less interest to bring up the child that they went for the legal battle, but because they were worried about the quality of life that there child would get if born with serious congenital disorders. It is also quite sure that they would take care of their child when it is born, the same way any other parents would take care of their child.

The most obvious thing that came out of this legal battle is that there are some serious defects in the abortion law prevailing in our country, which needs serious amendments. There should be a law that would allow parents to abort foetuses with serious disabilities, as a baby with chronic diseases would reduce the quality of life of the baby and the parents. At the same time there should be efficient mechanisms in place to make sure that people are not abusing this law to abort unwanted foetuses based on the gender of the foetus. The authorities may constitute a panel, of doctors and jurists, who would be in charge of determining the legality of any abortion. So any requests made by parents-to-be for abortion of foetuses can be discussed in detail. The medical and legal aspects of every individual abortion requests should be discussed in this panel and based on their recommendations the request for abortion can be approved or rejected.

The courage showed by the young couple, Niketa and Haresh should be appreciated and so should be the hospitals that offered free medical treatments to the about-to-be born child. Let us hope that our politicians and legislature would take adequate interest in this issue and would make changes in the abortion law to make it more compassionate as well as more sensible, taking into account the improved technological aspects of our medical system.

This is Bad Economics, Mr. Issac

What is the similarity between the Finance Minister of Kerala, Mr. Thomas Issac and I? - We both did our graduation in Economics from University of Kerala.

What are the differences between him and I? – Firstly, I am still only a student of Economics, while he is an expert Economist with years of teaching and research experience in the subject. Secondly, despite being an Economics graduate I pursued another stream and did my post graduation in management from University of Kerala, where as he did his higher studies in Economics from the JNU. Thirdly, I know that an increase in bus fare is not the right option to reduce the losses that KSRTC face, but he doesn’t know.

If you are someone who travels a lot in Indian railways, like me, you will have definitely noticed that after the bus fare hike in Kerala, there has been an unusual increase in the number of people travelling by train. This is because the cost incurred on travelling by bus is much higher than the cost on train travel. For example, if you want to travel from Kozhikode to Thiruvananthapuram in a KSRTC bus, then you have to give a fare of Rs.271, whereas it is only Rs.100 in a train. To understand that travelling by train is a more sensible option than using the KSRTC service, you don’t need any Economics knowledge, but only need a very little economic common sense.

The government says that the hike in the bus fares is to accommodate the increase in fuel prices and it is the only way I which they can reduce the burden on KSRTC. But with the increase in bus fare the number of people using the service got reduced, but the number of service remains the same. With this there will be a decline in the revenue, but the expenditure will remain the same resulting in an increased loss.

Now, what is our eminent economist-Finance Minister doing? Has he forgot his basics in Economics, or is he feigning blind and deaf to this situation, or is it so that he has no say in this decision taken by the KSRTC and it’s Minister with the acknowledgement of the Cabinet?

The increase in bus fares is helping only the Indian railways, whose income is going to increase manifold with this decision of the Kerala government. What KSRTC has to do is to decrease the bus fare so that there is at least one incentive for the travellers to use its service – reduced fare. Otherwise why should a common traveller use the service of KSRTC, what incentive he or she has to use it? Is there any great comfort in travelling in any of the debilitated KSRTC buses, especially through the pathetic roads of Kerala or is there any guarantee on the punctuality of the bus service?

The economics behind the logical option of reduced bus fares to increase the profitability of KSRTC is pretty simple. With a decrease in bus fares, more number of people would use the KSRTC service and with that there would be economies of scale for each individual bus service. In the long run, the average cost of operation for each individual service will get reduced, which in turn will add up to the reduced cost of operation of the entire KSRTC bus fleet. So there is the double advantage of increased revenue from increased number of travellers and reduced long run average cost (LRAC) of operation or reduced expenditure. Increase in revenue and decrease in expenditure, certainly means increased profit or reduction in loss.

The only way out for the KSRTC to reduce their loss is by a reduction in the fares and by increasing the number of travellers. It would also be a big relief for the large number of people who have no other option but to depend on the bus services of KSRTC for their travel. The earlier Mr. Thomas Issac recognise this simple idea, the better for KSRTC and for all travellers, like me, who expect to travel in a train with reduced rush and some minimum level of comfort.

An Ordinary Indian’s Take on the Indo-US Nuclear Deal

For an ordinary Indian, absolutely oblivious of the intricacies of nuclear energy and national foreign policy, the Indo-US nuclear deal is just another issue concocted by political parties to impose their supremacy on their ideological rivals and to earn some mean political brownie points. The deal is signed or not signed, his economic dilemma caused by inflation, weak monsoon and low agricultural production would remain the same. But at the same time, this deal has a bearing on his future, as it has some implications on the energy security and sovereignty of this nation where his children and grandchildren have to live even after he become a deceased soul.

It is a widely recognized view that the ultimate aim of any political party is to win elections and to acquire power. Helping the poor and the needy and envisaging the economic growth and development of the country etc. are mere pretexts with which they try to allure the common man to vote for him in a democracy. The arguments and disputes between the political parties in India over the 123 agreement and the nuclear deal is yet another example that shows how they use cheap political manoeuvres and place ideological barriers to feign incognisance for a need for effective discussions on an issue in the national interest. When India is going through such a crucial phase of its evolution as a global power, the political parties are fighting with each other on trivial ideological elements and personal egos.

It seems that the Congress Party, particularly, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, is rather obsessed with the commitment he had made to the US President on signing the nuclear deal. The Prime Minister was quite reluctant to go to the G8 Summit at Japan and meet Mr.Bush without a real breakthrough in the nuclear deal as he had given a commitment to the US President about finalising the deal. But such reluctance from the Prime Minister had been quite childish. Everyone knows that, in a democracy it is not possible to make a strategic decision without making a consensus among the majority. So if he had given some word to the US President without pondering about how democracy works in India, it is only naïve of him to do so. Again I believe that the Congress government has no legitimacy to move forward with the nuclear deal as it has only the support of a minority in the Parliament. After the cessation of left’s support to the government, it is trying to get enough members support for the continuation of the government. Though the Congress party might find the bare minimum of 272 members’ support to continue in the government, ethically speaking, such low level of numbers shouldn’t be enough for moving forward with such a strategic decision.

The University of Edinburgh educated CPI (M) General Secretary, Prakash Karat is, without doubt, a man of conviction. He believes, by virtue of his strong sense of anti-imperialism, that the nuclear deal is an attempt by the United States to engage India in the strategic embrace of that country in a bid to expand their military presence. He knows that the US wants to shift the geopolitical balance towards its favour by roping in India. So the CPI (M), with other left parties viz. CPI, RSP and Forward Bloc is quite adamant that it won’t allow the nuclear deal to move forward. But even after their resolute resistance, the Congress party and its UPA allies have taken the nuclear deal to the IAEA. Annoyed by such a move the left parties have withdrawn their support to the government with the complaint that UPA is not following the Common Minimum Programme or the assurance given to them on the nuclear deal. Now the left parties shouldn’t have anything to complain as they have enjoyed the fruits of the UPA rule like no other political party in India did. They grabbed the credit for all pro-people policies of the UPA government by claiming that it was their unrelenting pressure that had made the government to take such policies. When the government took some policy decisions that were against the will of the people, like the petrol price rise, the left parties asserted that the government had taken the decision without consulting them. Thus without any political price, they enjoyed a lot of acclaim from the people. Considering this aspect the left should be happy about what they are having right now at their hands.

If about the main opposition party, the BJP, they have no ideological differences on the nuclear deal with the government. They are only opposing it for the sake of opposition, as what we Indians are used to in our democratic set up. It was the BJP who started aligning India’s foreign policy towards that of the United States and to their credit they are not contradicting it even now. But they say that they would re-negotiate the deal if they come to power after the elections. Also they are pretending to be that “utopian” political party by saying that, if they were in power they would have placed the nuclear issue in the backburner and would have given more importance to taming inflation and other pro people policies that would benefit the ‘aam aadmi.’

When it is about doing frivolous and comical deeds, our Kerala government led by the CPI (M) is never out of innovative “ideas.” In the same way that our Chief Minister VS and Minister Sudhakaran make outrageously farcical and absurd comments, the LDF had adopted a resolution against the Indo-US nuclear deal in the Kerala legislature, as if there are no other issues in the state that warrant a discussion in the legislature. To understand that it was just an act by the government to avoid facing the opposition UDF on the embarrassing situation of the hike in bus fares needs no level of immense intelligence. Please, someone save us from this idiotic government that is insensitive to the problems of the state.

And now, if about the pros and cons of the nuclear deal, I must confess that I am no expert. But I have real faith in the scientific community of our country that have negotiated the deal with the Americans. There are no reasons to doubt their excellence, acumen or patriotism and hence I presume that the nuclear deal that they had negotiated would be a beneficial one for our country. At the same time I strongly believe that the UPA government led by the Congress party has no ethical right to move forward with this deal as it just don’t have the enough numbers in the parliament that is needed to carry forward the epic deal which has several implications on our future – your future, my future and our great nation’s future.

CPI (M), Have You Forgot? – India is a Democracy!

The Communist Party of India (Marxist) is not at all bemused with the Prime Minister over the Indo-US nuclear deal and they have told him, in unequivocal terms that they won’t allow the Government to move forward with deal without a political consensus on the issue. And the reason they put forward is the fact that India is a democracy and hence any decision that has an implication on the future of the nation can be taken only with the approval of all political parties considered to be the will of the people - Fair Enough. But in Kerala, the same political party is perhaps feigning ignorance about India being a democratic country or, that is what we ordinary people come to understand after seeing the behaviour and deeds of the members of CPI (M) and their different sister organisations, including the DYFI and the SFI.

For the delight of the opposition parties in Kerala, may it be the Congress led UDF or the BJP, there is no dearth of political controversies in the state. They are voicing their concern, anger and disgust over the issue in both violent and non-violent ways. We are taught that, in a democracy everyone has the right to protest on any issue in non violent ways. So not only the political parties, but also you and I have the right to protest any decision of the ruling government. But things are not working in that manner in Kerala when the CPI (M) led LDF is governing the state. Here, if you protest, against the government, you will be “taught a lesson” by the party cadre and the sister organisations of the party. If you dare to criticise the party, you will be tortured and tormented by the police and by the wild minions of the party. In the recent days, people ranging from activists of the opposition political parties, people from the media and the poor and weak people who were protesting against the land acquisition drive of the government, have all faced the ire of the party and its workers.

Never in the history of the state had there been an occasion where the protesting activists of a political party were confronted by the party activists of the ruling party. But we witnessed that happening in our state some days back. Of course it is natural that the police sometimes have to resort to the use of force to confront the violent protesters, but it is only ludicrous that a party has told its activists to tackle all those who criticise the party in such an uncivilised way. Media people were not spared either by the CPI (M) party activists. It would be good if the CPI (M) Polit bureau members, who recite the mantra of democracy at the centre, take due concern in knowing and stopping deeds of the state party members that are against the spirit of democracy.

Dislike for criticism seems to be in the genetic code of the Communist parties all over the world. They always follow this unique way of wiping out criticism through brute use of force, may it be in China, the undivided USSR or say in West Bengal as what we saw on March 2007 at Nandigram. The Communist parties, it seem, have not undergone the mutation to be able to prosper peacefully under a democratic set up. If you take the political environment of countries where Communism has prospered, you would find that they all have an autocratic style of Communist rule where there is less opposition for the policies that they undertake. In China, though they say there is a democracy, there is no freedom of press and no genuine freedom to criticise the policies of the government. In Russia, though there are four political parties, they all are creations of Kremlin and are working more or less under the guidance of the ruling party, United Russia. During elections, only United Russia, led by Vladimir Putin, gets the coverage from the state media and other parties are allowed to participate in the elections only for Russia to claim that they have a democratically elected government. Things are not any different in the countries like Cuba and Venezuela either.

In Kerala, this is the best time to be a CPI (M) supporter and the worse time to be a critic of the party. Party supporters can do any crime and can walk freely, unperturbed by legal actions against them. They can attack their critics, even if he or she is in the police van or in a police station, and can even give vent to their rage on any policeman and can still walk unscathed. Party critics should keep a very low profile and should never dare to voice their opinion against the party lest they will be subjected to harassment and life threatening ordeals.

It would be wise for the CPI (M) to always remember that India is a democratic country and hence we Indians have the constitutional right to resort to lawful protests against any policies that their governments take. Crushing such protests with brute force won’t augment well for the party as they have found out during the local body elections in places like Nandigram after the genocide committed by the members of the party. The CPI (M) in the state should jettison such violent attacks on the people and should understand that they are not the opposition party but is the ruling party and hence responsible for the life and property of the people. Even now it is not late for them to prove that they are capable of good governance, though I have no such hopes.

Fuel Price Hike and Beyond

The most worrying news for the Economists in India is that the inflation rate has increased to a new high of 8.24% on 6^th June. But for the common man, the reason for worry is not this mathematical figure but the trouble this figure has caused to his family budget. The cost of the food items has increased, the price of petrol and diesel has increased, the rate of cooking gas has increased and as a result his family expenditure is taking a serious pounding.

Increase in prices is not a phenomenon that is seen only in India. Prices are on the rise all over the world owing to the increase in crude oil prices and decrease in food production. While the former creates an economic problem, the latter creates a socio-economic problem. Conflicts at certain African nations as a result of food scarcity are an appalling reminder to all nations of the world that failure to contain the food shortage can lead to disastrous consequences. Supply side constraints are forcing all nations to increase the prices of all items including fuels. India, a major consumer and importer of fuels, is also feeling the heat of this cost-push inflation.

The Indian government, after days of deliberations, decided to increase the fuel price some days back. The price of petrol was raised by Rs.5 and the price of diesel was raised by Rs.3. A rise in fuel price can never be a popular decision and this time it was no different. There had been a huge hue and cry on the same and the opposition parties and the left allies of the UPA confronted the government with stiff actions. With the skyrocketing of global crude oil prices, it seems that a rise in the price of petrol and diesel is the only sensible decision the government would have taken.

The opposition BJP and the left parties are saying that they had a magic wand in their hand that could have saved the people from this fuel price hike, had the government asked for their advice and ideas. But their advice had nothing new than reducing the excise duty and sales tax on the fuels. No one put forward the idea of reducing the advertisement expenditure of oil companies to reduce their loss. It is quite irrational that petroleum companies are resorting to high ad spending for their products as there is only a very small competition from the private players in this field. This means that the major petroleum companies, who are all PSUs, are competing with other PSUs without earning anything logically substantial from it.

The central government has reduced some of the taxes on petroleum fuels and has advised the state governments to reduce some state level taxes as well. But reducing the taxes beyond a certain level is not going to be practical as there would be a lot of negative economic implications. A reduction in taxes would mean that there is an increase in the fiscal deficit of the economy and this would result in reduced economic resources with the government to continue its development works and other socio economic tasks. Such a situation would certainly end up in a reduced rate of economic growth and development of the nation which would put a lot of burden on the future generations.

The summit of the G8 nations in Japan has decided not to pile up pressure on the OPEC nations to increase production; instead the G8 countries have decided to increase domestic efficiency in fuel consumption by focussing on technology, conservation and diversification. This is certainly the best measure that can be taken for improving fuel efficiency in a long term basis. But the problem with the rising fuel prices still exists in the short term for which there is no answer available with any of these nations.

So the only option available with us is to take forward the austerity drive about which our Prime Minster is talking about, whereby we should be using less fuel, less electricity and less of other energy sources. We can also think about making use of bio fuels and other conventional energy sources like solar energy or the wind energy. It seems that these times of utter despair is the best opportunity that we have got to pursue some new habits of fuel and energy conservation and for that a concerted effort from all parties and stake holders is imperative.