Hike - Just Done It ---- By Sanket 'gone for a hike' Kambli

This isn't a spoof of Nike or its tagline. Here you should focus on the word hike. And this has got nothing to do with going for hiking trips. Heck! It doesn’t even deal with any trip. Ok, I will quit playing around; this is about fuel price hike. Don’t run away, it doesn’t deal with economics of fuel prices but has got some numbers. The latest hike in oil price comes at a bad time for the economy and close on heels of the previous hike of just six months back. Under the revised pricing the price of kerosene has gone up by Taka 2 to Taka 25 per litre; diesel price is raised by Taka 3 to Taka 26 per litre and petrol price has gone up to Taka 35 from Taka 33. Significantly, on 23 December last the government had raised the prices of kerosene and diesel each by Taka 3 per litre. Consequently, within a space of six months the prices of diesel and kerosene have gone up by Taka 6 and Taka 5 respectively. An imminent price rise is already in the air due to the new pay scale of the government servants; on top of it comes this new round of fuel price hike which cannot be justified on any rational ground. It is going to set off a chain reaction in every sector of the economy, it is feared, particularly agriculture and transport. And when transport rises, prices of nearly all commodities tend to rise. If the price hike itself is bad, the reason given for it is more outrageous. It has been stated that the need to check smuggling is one of the reasons for raising fuel price, as fuel price is higher across the border. In other words, the common people must pay for the crime of smugglers which the government is unable or unwilling to curb. The law enforcers are maintained on the tax money of the public precisely to control crimes. The fact is that the government has had to give in to World Bank's pressure. Last February when a delegation of World Bank's oil and gas mission visited the country they pressed for a fresh round of fuel price hike. Their argument was that prices of gas, diesel and kerosene were below the level set by the Bank as condition for Development Support Credit. Thus the elected government can neither check smuggling nor resist donors' pressure. So if you think it doesn’t affect you, either you should again read the above lines carefully, or you must not be living in India. Because this has been done and will affect us quite effectively, anyone disagrees?
Statistical source: Press Trust of India, financial dailies.