The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : `Prices of food items shouldn't have been hiked'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Jul 20, 2004

Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

`Prices of food items shouldn't have been hiked'

By Our Staff Reporter

BANGALORE, JULY 19. The increase in prices of utensils and electronic goods announced in the State Budget, presented in the Legislative Assembly on Monday by the Deputy Chief Minister, Siddaramiah, has not gone down well with the common man in Bangalore. Most citizens, whose views on the budget were elicited by The Hindu , opposed the increase in prices. They found nothing much to cheer about in the partial reduction of prices of some products. Computer spares, television sets, cameras and optical goods are now set to become costlier. Already upset with the recent increase in fuel prices, people feel the budget proposals will make life tougher for them.

Manju, an autorickshaw driver, said: "It is always good for poor people when there is reduction in prices. Petrol and diesel prices are always going up and this leads to more people avoiding autorickshaws. Modifying the engines of vehicles to make them run on LPG [liquefied petroleum gas] is expensive. They [the Government] need to focus more on the common man."

A.P. Rajendran, a senior manager of a private firm, said the State Budget had reversed the benefits granted by the Union Budget. "The Union Budget claimed that there would be a concession on electronic goods, but now the State Budget declares the opposite. What are they [the budgets] implying? They [the State Government] should not have increased the prices of something as basic as cooking oil and wheat products, as these are bare necessities of the poor. It is very sad that these people must always be affected so adversely. If we, well-earning citizens and the middleclass, are finding it hard to cope, then what is the state of the lower classes," he wondered.

The banning of online lotteries, he felt, is the only good thing in an "otherwise unsatisfactory" budget.

Kusuma Anjali, a housewife, felt very strongly about the increase in prices of utensils, cooking oil and wheat products. "Increase in prices of household essential commodities is coming down very hard on us. It is all right to increase the prices of non-essential goods as these are the things people should try to avoid. How much more are they going to increase the price of basic things?" she asked.

According to Mari Gowda, a security supervisor, the common man's expenses are always on the rise.

"The lower-class people are always affected the most. These budgets only favour the rich," he said. The State, he recalled, had made big promises on rations.

"But after that quota is over, we have to buy commodities such as rice and kerosene in the black market at almost three times the price. If the prices of these everyday commodities are increased, how are we to survive? The standard of living is only going down for us," he said.

Maya Nayak, information-technology professional, was concerned mostly about the overall increase in taxes and electronic goods. "They affect me more or less directly and I had hoped that the increase would not be too much," she said.

There were some who cheered about the possible reduction in ticket rates in cinemas following the cut in entertainment tax.

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