Another pantomime that we're familiar with!

The prices of diesel and cooking gas are being hiked and naturally, reactions have erupted from every section of society. While the political parties in power justify the price hike saying that it has been brought about by the global market pressures(?), the ones in opposition have come out strongly against it, not because of any valid reason except for the fact that they need to oppose the government in whatever they do.

The farce being played out - and I call it the pantomime - is that the opposition would have done the same thing if they'd been in power! In other words, the price hike was inevitable and the resultant discomfort that it's gonna cause the common man be damned!

A couple of doubts that come to mind everytime such a situation arises are expressed below:-
(a) If global trends are the cause, how's it that the prices of petroleum products the highest in India even when the price of crude in the global market is at an all time low?
(b) If the government justifies the hike in prices how's it that it's oblivious to the attendant effects on the other services?

Transportation is going to get affected instantly and the shooting up of prices of essential commodities is just a matter of time making life for us difficult!

In Kerala, the private bus owners have asked for raising their ticket rates and are going to go off the roads with effect from Wednesday - probably, it's posturing to derive maximum mileage from the government - that's gonna cause hardship to the general public. As a layman, I too have wondered as to how student concessions at ridiculously unreasonable rates are being maintained, to cite just one aspect of the problem. Hope all concerned come on the negotiating table to find an everlasting and amicable solution to the vexed problem, at the earliest.

It reminds me of the ridiculously low cost of bread in the erstwhile Soviet Union before it crumbled thanks to the inherent contradictions!