Common
man in Tamilnadu is shell shocked hearing the news of the a steep increase of
prices on few of the basic necessities of life such as Milk, power and local
bus tariff. A liter of toned standard milk has gone up from Rs17.80 to Rs
26.00, Half Kg Butter from Rs 100.00 to Rs 150.00, Electricity charges up by 30
% and so forth with immediate effect ie 18th Nov 2011. In addition
to the announced increases the ripple effect of the weakening Indian Rupee is
seen in the increase of fuel prices thereby increasing the cost of
transportation of good is passed on to the end consumer…common man. These increases
does have a serious impact on the household budgets of the people and with no
increase in the income of the family only way these additional expenses could
be met by reducing the consumption of all the affected products.
Today
I heard an interesting conversation between three persons in a tea shop and the
topic was the increase in costs as announced yesterday and it goes like this
First person: such a
steep increase by Jayalalitha’s government is not correct especially on milk
and bus travel and because of this my child will not be given milk at night
Second person: yes
what you say is correct…the increase should have been done gradually over a
period of time so that we would have got some breathing space.
First person: even if
it was gradual what is the use as our salaries remain stationary for years together.
Third person: yes if
the salaries are also increased then we would be able to still afford the
increased costs without sacrificing the necessities of our children and also
ourselves. But then dreaming of salary increase is a waste since it would never
happen in private companies.
Second person: we
made a mistake by electing AIADMK since Karunanidhi would never have passed such
a bill for steep increase as he is more caring about the welfare of the people.
I am sure that this party will not retain its power in the next election
First person: Well we
have a long wait ahead of us because Amma has just come to power and god only
knows what else she is going to do further to make more money for themselves.
Being
educated I do know that any government would look for various means of reducing
their budget deficit but then spread the increase on to various items instead
of increasing price of few items so drastically. Well we are all in for much
more cost increases in the coming days with spiraling oil cost due to weakening
Indian currency and I hope that we would
be able to provide the basic necessities to our children for their growth and
studies ……….most families would have to forego something else to take care of
the needs of children. For a common man it is now “One step forward and three
steps backward” instead of “two steps forward and one step back”. We are sure
going to see a definite change in the society because of the inflation in near future!!!
God
help the common man for he is the worst affected for the rich will still
continue their lifestyle without flinching about the increases and the people
below poverty level are not used to such luxuries so would not care either way.
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