The Hindu : Opinion / Letters to the Editor : Tackling inflation

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Wednesday, Jun 25, 2008
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Opinion - Letters to the Editor

Tackling inflation

What the common man hopes is that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will tame the “iniquitous tax” of double digit inflation. Sermons will not alleviate the economic pains inflicted by his government’s faulty policies and flawed priorities. This testing time demands the Prime Minister and the Finance Minister to demonstrate their best economic acumen, political wisdom and concern for the poor who voted them to power.

B.R .Geetha,

Salem

With the government maintaining that inflation is imported, the immediate future appears bleak. While many reasons have been attributed to the spiralling inflation, the government fails to realise that its taxation policy has also contributed to the alarming rise of prices of goods and services. Many sections of society have already started feeling the pinch of the service tax burden. It is time it was scrapped. Another contributory factor is bank lending for speculative purposes such as stock market operations and the realty sector.

Traditionally, our people have been savings-oriented. But globalisation has brought about a change in their mindset. Availability of bank credit makes them borrow without regard for their repaying capacity. It leads to increased demand, spiralling inflation.

S. Ramasamy,

Chennai

The government is squarely to blame for the rising inflationary trend. It is unfortunate that with two eminent economists at the helm, it has miserably failed to tackle the soaring prices of essential commodities and the rising inflation. The government should come down heavily on those who are making a killing out of the current situation. It should keep tabs on the price tags of essential commodities such as edible oil, cereals and vegetables.

P. Senthil Saravana Durai,

Vazhavallan

Severe opprobrium has been heaped on the UPA government for its failure to perform on every front. But one wonders whether it is not the time to curtail conspicuous consumption individually rather than censuring the government and its policies. The UPA government has launched schemes under the NREGA, and given a massive loan waiver to provide the much-needed fillip to agriculture while consistently maintaining a GDP growth of over 8 per cent. The double digit inflation rate is the result of the international spurt in the prices of crude oil. The people should remain united and contribute in whatever way possible to push down inflation.

Samrat Singh Yadav,

Indore

What is more irritating than the spiralling inflation is the opportunistic politics being played by the opposition. Instead of giving constructive ideas to control price rise, they resort to criticism for the sake of criticism. Meaningful politics is the need of the hour.

V. Chandraprakash,

Namakkal

The UPA government’s decision to hike the petroleum prices was risky but unavoidable. But we, the people, too have some duties. Cribbing over the price rise won’t do any good unless we start realising the need to use the resources judiciously.

The use of public transport, adopting the lifestyle of the older generations and having meals together with the family, whenever possible, to save LPG are some measures by which we can make a substantial difference. Let us take a pledge to guard one another from the effect of soaring prices.

Ritika Chhabra,

Bangalore

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