Visit to Niagara Falls is a legend come alive - Indians and Niagara Falls

New Delhi, Jun 22 (UNI) With more and more Indians travelling overseas, thanks to the growing prosperity of the middle class, there is a beeline of tourist promotion organisations scouting for business in the country.There are often days when two or three will hot sell their wares. For instance, The Niagara Tourism and Convention Corporation (NTCC) and Tanzania Tourist Board made a presentation on the potential of their destinations.Mr John Percy, President and CEO of NTCC, said there has been a 39 per cent increase during 2007 in the number of Indians travelling to the United States and many of them make it a point to visit the magnificent Niagara Falls.

Niagara Falls is massive waterfalls on the Niagara River, straddling the international border separating the Canadian province of Ontario and the US state of New York. The Niagara Falls are renowned both for their beauty and as a valuable source of hydroelectric power. Tourists assemble throughout the year to experience the breathtaking sights and sounds of the Falls, the world-class casinos, gaming and dining to intriguing museum collections and fantastic shopping malls.

Mr Percy said the increasing use of Internet, the falling dollar, much larger exposure to the world through the media, the growing prosperity of the middle class are among the numerous reasons which are attracting Indians to visit the Niagara Falls.While the depreciating dollar has considerable affected the outflow of American tourists to the rest of the world, it has made America cheaper for the world community. ''America is on sale,'' Mr Percy remarked, saying this is pulling Indians to travel more to America.

He said the economic mess of America has been ''sensationalised'' by the media and felt that the chaos created by the sub-prime crisis was nearly over.While the business community of the US is satisfied by the steps taken by the US administration, more needs to be done to put the economy on rebound.Niagara receives large number of tourists from countries such as Philippines, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Russia, Poland, Hungary and West Asia.\The attractions to visit the Niagara include the famous Maid of the Mist, Whirlpool Jet Boat rides, Old Fort Niagara, Lockport Locks and Erie Canal cruises, the Wine Trail, fashion outlets and air helicopter rides.The Cave of the Winds entails taking an elevator right down 175 feet to the base of Bridal Veil Falls and walk along the base of the Falls on a series of wooden stairs and decks, especially created during the spring and taken off in the fall.

Niagara Falls region received 1.8 million overseas visitors of which 1,48,000 were Indians. ''Five per cent of the total visitors were Indians in 2007, and we expect this to touch 39 per cent by 2010,'' Mr Percy said.All and all, the dream destination is truly a legend come aliveto a visitor.

Monetary measures in the offing to stem inflationary expectations

New Delhi, Jun 21 (UNI) The government today hinted that monetary measures are in the offing to check spiralling prices and claimed that the rate at which prices have been rising for non-fuel products has been coming down to touch an inflation rate between 5.5 per cent to six per cent a year from now.
"RBI Governor Y V Reddy has met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Finance Minister P Chidambaram this morning. The government will take appropriate action," Finance Secretary D Subbarao told anewsconference here.
Also present on the occasion was Chief Economic Adviser Arvind Virmani and other advisers to the Finance Ministry. A statement by Finance Minister P Chidambaram was distributed relating to the inflationary situation. Mr Subbaraorao, however, was not categorical as to whether there would be immediate cut in taxes, including petrol and petroleum products, to check the skyrocketing prices. He took recourse to a remark made by Mr Chidambaram's statementin which he said giving up revenues and borrowing an equivalent amount in the market in order to finance expenditure would also beinflationary. The Finance Minister had stated this while replying to a suggestion made by former Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha thatthe government could have made deeper cuts in taxes. "Nevertheless, I take Mr Sinha's suggestion on board and will explore the option," Mr Chidambaram said.
The Finance Secretary said he was not in a position to say as to what steps the RBI would take as it was an independent monetary authority. He said it was also for this very reason that he was unable to indicate as to when these steps would be announced. Mr Virmani claimed that the pace at which prices have been rising in non-fuel items has been coming down since March 2008 and projected the inflation rate to be in the region of 5.5 per cent to six per cent a year from now. He, however, said the headline inflation rate would continue to rise as a consequence of "a mathematical inevitable" due to the base year effect adding that 94 per cent of the weekly index rise of 11.05 was a result of increase in fuel and petroleum products.

Mr Viramani said the Finance Ministry sticks to its projections on the growth rate for the current fiscal which was 8.5 per cent, plus or minus 0.5 per cent. Mr Subbarao said the inflationary pressures are likely to continue for next few months. "The first line of defense is monetary policy action," he said.

Apparently, the response from the Finance Ministry mandarins came in response to scathing criticism all round, especially the political parties, as inflation touched a 13-year high of 11.05 per cent for the week ended June 7.
Rising prices have eroded the popularity of Manmohan Singh's ruling Congress party, which has lost ground in nine of 11 state elections since January 2007. The UPA faces elections in six more states this year and General Elections by May 2009. "The trend in prices is disturbing," Mr Subbarao remarked adding that these were truly difficult times as inflation had much to do with the global crude prices, which touched 144 dollars a barrel some days ago. ``Although demand is not part of the problem, demand management has to be part of the solution,'' Mr Subbarao said. ``There are limits to how much we can manage supply-side dimensions. So, much of the response has to be from demand-side measures.'' Analysts say the RBI's action could entail a hike in repo rate that is the rate at which Banks borrow from the RBI or hike in the Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) rate to reduce the amount of cash in the banking system. The idea is to further drain excess liquidity.

The Central Bank raised its benchmark repurchase rate to a six-year high of eight per cent on June 11, the first increase in 15 months. The Bank has also increased the CRR twice since April 17 to drain excess money in the financial system. The government on June four reduced taxes on imports of crude oil and cut duties on other fuel products, foregoing revenue of the order of Rs 22,260 crore to cushion consumers from high fuel hike. Mr Subbarao said the trend in inflation in the coming months will be influenced by the price of crude oil, the rate of the dollar and the rupee- dollar parity.

Mr Chidambaram said the government will provide adequate wheat and rice stocks to moderate prices in the open market and will make provision for sufficent wheat and rice to the Public Distribution System (PDS). "Hence, there is no cause for worry regarding wheat and rice, "Mr Chidambaram said. The Finance Minister noted that there has been a record production of wheat and paddy and the government has adequate stocks of these two commodities. The government has procured 220 lakh tonnes of wheat so far and 260 lakh tonnes of rice. Mr Chidambaram felt that there was a silver lining as far as prices were concerned. In the primary article group, the index for food articles declined by 1.11 per cent. For the group as a whole, the index declined by 0.37 per cent. Even the manufactured productgroup registered only a small increase of 0.30 per cent. "Last evening, I called on the Prime Minister and had a long discussion with him. This morning, I invited the Governor RBI to meet me and we have reviewed the situation," he said. Mr Virmani said a rise in fuel prices was like a tax, leading todemand compression. Outside this, demand compression needs to be carefully worked out. Asked whether the era of double digiit interest rates was back, Mr Virmani said what matters in the long run is the real interest rates as compared to nominal interest rates. If in the long run, inflation rate is brought down then real interest rates would moderate.

When asked whether fuel prices would be hiked further if global crude prices continue to move Northwards, Mr Subbrao said this was a matter of political decision making and was thus not in a position to answer the question. He said investment prospects continue to be bright and the retained earnings of the corporates would not be impacted by inflationary expectations.

FM hints at stronger fiscal, monetary and supply measures

New Delhi, Jun 20 (UNI) With the headline inflation touching a 13-year-high of 11.05 per cent, a worried Finance Minister P Chidambaram made it clear that stronger monetary and fiscal steps, as well measures to augment supplies are in the offing.
''When the Cabinet met to decide on hike in fuel prices, we had warned the Cabinet that this could lead to double digit inflation. This is what has happened,'' Mr Chidambaram told reporters outside his North Block office.Mr Chidambaram said he was not in the position to spell out the details of these steps at the moment.Mr Chidambaram said of the 1.77 per cent increase in inflation rate, 1.67 per cent increase was the result of increase in petrol, diesel and LPG prices. ''This means that 94 per cent of the increase is directly attributable to the hike in fuel and petroleum products.'' Mr Chidambaram said.
The Finance Minister said these were difficult times and enjoined upon the people to bear with the government, understanding the difficulties it was facing on account on global crude prices touching the roof.Mr Chidambaram said he has just met Petroleum Secretary M S Srinivasan, Finance Secretary D Subba Rao and other concerned Secretaries to analyse the situation.Meanwhile, Mr Srinivasan told reporters that there was no question of roll back of prices of petrol. Mr Chidambaram said the government will take measures on the demand side to bring prices under check.

The Finance Minister said the hike in petrol and petroleum products was inevitable and the government had no option but to increase the administrative prices of petrol, diesel and LPG.The government had, on June 4, raised petrol prices by Rs five a litre, diesel by Rs three per litre and cooking gas by Rs 50 a cylinder.The Finance Minister gave details of the contribution which petrol, diesel, kerosene and LPG had made to the index going up by a whopping 11.05 per cent.Mr Chidambaram justified the difficult times quoting how global crude oil prices have been rising almost exponentially.

From the day of the presentation of the Budget, the global oil prices have registered a hike of 37 per cent.From 98 dollars a barrel seven months ago, it has risen to 144 dollars a barrel four days ago and were today hovering between 133-134 dollars a barrel.The index for the group 'Fuel, Power, Light and Lubricants', which has a weight of 14.23 per cent, rose by 7.8 per cent from the previous week.This was due to higher prices of light diesel oil (21 per cent), LPG (20 per cent), naphtha (17 per cent), furnace oil (15 per cent), aviation turbine fuel (14 per cent), petrol (11 per cent), high speed diesel oil (10 per cent) and bitumen (7 per cent).

The inflation figure was bad news for the stock market which dipped to a lowest of this year on fears of interest hike.The industry, which has been reeling under inflationary-like conditions, found Mr Chidambaram's pill difficult to swallow as the Finance Minister indicated that there would also be measures to compress demand.It was bad news too for the Congress Party which faces Assembly elections in four states in November and General Elections next year.The Left Parties, which are supporting the government from outside, have in no uncertain terms, express their displeasure at the government's inability to bring down the inflation.

Indians only plan, don't act: Metlife Survey on retirement

New Delhi, Jun 20 (UNI) Notwithstanding the earnest desire to have a comfortable retirement life, 80 per cent of Indians do no retirement planning apart from the mandatory government schemes they subscribe to like the Provident Fund and Pension, a Metlife global survey shows. ''The divide between employee concerns about retirement readiness and employee actions to prepare for a successful retirement is particularly pointed in India,'' the survey said. But then, India is not alone in this regard. Many full-time workers in developing and matured economies, including the United States, have taken few or no independent steps to plan for retirement. The survey is actually part of two studies by Metlife--'The Inaugural Study of International Employee Benefits Trends (iEBTS),' and the sixth annual 'US Study of Employee Benefits Trends (EBTS)'. The documents catalogue the challenges faced by workers around the world in preparing for a secure post-work life.
While almost three out of four employees (71 per cent) in India said they were 'concerned' about outliving retirement money, only one out of every three (35 per cent) said they have taken steps to determine retirement needs; and only 20 per cent said they have done actual planning for retirement.

Traditionally, a family would take care of its older members, but with the geographic mobility among young people to locations far away from their home base, the family ‘safety net’ is becoming frayed in many fast-growing countries that lack national health or retirement systems.
In a sharp departure from the other countries surveyed, one-third (33 per cent) of Indian employees said they never expect to retire, which may account to some extent for the fact that so few plan for their retirement.
Of those Indian workers who have planned for retirement, nearly six out of ten (58 per cent) said they have either achieved or are on track to achieving their retirement goals.Nearly half of Indian employees (48 per cent) whose employers do not offer retirement benefits would be interested in purchasing retirement planning products through their employer, even if they had to pay 100 per cent of the cost.

Nearly half of employees in the US (46 per cent) in the Survey said they have not taken any steps to determine income need in retirement.In terms of retirement preparedness, the United Kingdom may be the most financially fit of the countries surveyed.Indeed, 71 per cent of workers surveyed in the UK said they have taken steps to determine their households' retirement needs and 69 per cent have actually started to plan.
The survey found that many Australians are optimistic about their retirement life, despite their apparent lack of independent retirement preparation.Australia also has the highest percentage of employees without retirement savings goals among the countries surveyed.While most workers plan to retire at around age 60, 15 per cent of Australians say they do not have any retirement savings goals.

The first-ever MetLife Study of International Employee Benefits Trends was conducted between November 2006 and March 2007 by GfK Custom Research in India, Mexico, Australia and the UK. The employee survey polled 2,507 full-time employees beginning at age 18, including a mix of men and women at different employer sizes in each country. The employer survey consisted of 1,275 interviews with benefits decision-makers at companies with differing number of employees, representing a mix of industries and geographic regions.
The Sixth Annual US Study of Employee Benefits Trends was conducted during the third quarter of 2007 and consisted of two distinct studies fielded by GfK Custom Research, North America.
The employer survey comprised 1,652 interviews. The employee survey polled 1,380 full-time employees, aged 21 and over, at companies with at least two employees.

MetLife India Insurance Company Ltd (MetLife) is an affiliate of MetLife Inc and was incorporated as a joint venture between MetLife International Holdings Inc, The Jammu and Kashmir Bank, M Pallonji and Co Pvt Ltd and other private investors.

Key Inflation Rate Touched a 13-Year High in India

New Delhi: June 20: India's key inflation rate touched a 13-year high of 11.05 percent for the week ended June 7 that was spiked by the central government announcing a significant announced hikes in prices of petrol, diesel and cooking gas.

The (WPI) wholesale price index India's most-watched inflation gauge, for the fuel, power, light and lubricants group showed a 7.8 percent rise and accounted in a big way for the high inflation rate. In India this quick rise in inflation has affected the life of the poor and middle class by seriously impacting their purchasing power. The rise in gas prices and commodity prices that has impacted the lives of the common man globally in not really due to a gap between demand and supply but Futures Trading and speculation in commodities that indulge in hedge funds. Making big investors and major banks culprits for the current plight of billions globally.

The news impacted stocks in India and the Bombay Stock Exchange's benchmark Sensex index fell 2 percent to 14,779.

ASSOCHAM asks industry to hold price line, denies cartelisation

New Delhi, Jun 11 -- Newly-elected ASSOCHAM President Sajjan Jindal today called upon the industry to hold on to its price line in the face of severe cost pressure and asked the government to scarp Press Note-1 to send positive signals to foreign investors.
''These are difficult times for industry as inflationary pressures costs are rising and there is a tendency to hike prices of industrial goods. An important item on the agenda of ASSOCHAM is to dialogue with various industry segments to keep a cap on price increases,'' Mr Jindal said while addressing his first press conference after taking over as the chamber President.
Mr Jindal said ASSOCHAM will work hand in hand with the government to fight inflationary pressures. Mr Jindal, who is Vice-Chairman and Managing Director JSW Steel Ltd, denied that there was cartelisation in the steel and cement industry, an allegation made by top government functionares. He said had it been so then domestic prices of these commodities would have been in excess of global prices, while the fact is that they are much less. He said some leading manufacturers of steel had recently met Finance Minister P Chidambaram to argue out their case that there was no cartelisation in the cement and steel sectors.
Mr Jindal said Press Note-1 was an Act which was introduced in the past to protect the interests of domestic players, who run the risk of direct competition with their foreign joint venture partners, better equipped with technology and capital.Press Note-1 entails a no-objection certificate from a domestic player to a foreign partner if he wants to set up another unit in the same line of production. ''Since there has been a paradigm shift in the Indian industry, its perspective and purpose of regulation needs to change. The Indian industry is today matured and expanding fast in foreign turf, moving away from the protectionist approach. There is, therefore, no needfor such a law,'' Mr Jindal said. He said there were at least 50 foreign players facing rough weather on account of Press Note 1 adding that the law countervails the government endeavours to liberalise the economy and its approach towards globalisation. It is a stumbling block in the wayof promoting Foreign Direct Investments, he said.
Mr Jindal made out a case for enlarging the Public Distribution System to bring more commodities under its fold, such as pulses and some new food items.He said the chamber will impress upon the government to ban export of more sensitive items, especially those relating to food.This will be over and above the measures the government has already taken by way restricting export of non-basmati rice and wheat. Regardng Press Note 1, Mr Jindal said seven years back ASSOCHAM had suggested three years cooling off period to give domestic players adequate time to consolidate. Mr Jindal, however, sought continuation of 'Press Note 5' and 'Press Note 9' as their stipulations better serve the interests of the country in their current form. However, the government needs to review the situation from time to time and keep amending laws which prevent foreign companies from investing in India.
Mr Jindal said rising global crude prices were due to cartelisation by a handful of OPEC nations, which have fully regulated the crude oil production and taken the rest of the world for a ''ride.''It was, therefore, necessary that all countries formulate a joint strategy to put pressure on the OPEC for increasing crude production so that the rising prices of the product are contained and subsequently moderated.
To a question relating to GDP for the current fiscal, Mr Jindal said as the agriculture sector was expected to perform better because of good rains, India’s GDP would be close to nine per cent in 2008-09. ''As a matter of fact, if manufacturing does better and can come out of the adverse impact of high input costs and higher inflation rate, GDP growth rate might go beyond nine per cent,'' he said.
Talking about the steel sector, Mr Jindal opined that India’s mineral resources, including iron ore, should be used only if there is value addition. ''It is an irony that 85 per cent of the total iron ore exported from India goes to China and in turn is imported back to India. If mineral exports are not discouraged, a situation may arise when investments committed by the lead global steel players for India might not materialise,'' he said.
Talking about ASSOCHAM's search for new markets, the tycoon said the chamber would explore possibilities of establishing business linkages between India and Latin American countries.Latin America, particularly countries like Chile, Brazil, and Venezuela, are still virgin areas for India Inc, he said. Mr Jindal said ASSOCHAM in cooperation with the Ministries of External Affairs and Commerce and Industry would be developing a mechanism to enhance economic activities three-fold with Latin American countries in the next two years.

NDA Govt will give top priority to river linking project: Advani

New Delhi, Jun 3 (UNI) Leader of the Opposition L K Advani today said that inter-linking the rivers of India would receive the topmost priority if the NDA was voted back to power.
Mr Advani said his government had seriously pursued the idea and in this regard appointed a committee, headed by Former Power Minister Suresh Prabhu. The Committee has submitted several reports to the government in this regard and was hopeful that inter-linking the rivers would yield immense benefits to the States, especially southern states.The UPA government had put in cold storage the Suresh Prabhu Committee report and there has been little progress since then on river linkage.
Mr Advani was replying to a question raised by the audience afterhe addressed the 87th AGM of ASSOCHAM. In his address, Mr Advani pointed out the meaninglessness of the growth process, if it fails to deliver to the poor.This, too, would be high on agenga, if the NDA was voted to power.
In his welcome address, ASSOCHAM President V N Dhoot described Mr Advani as a probable future Prime Minister and one who would steer the nation to greater heights.

Advani seeks industry wisdom on growth and equity

New Delhi, June 3 (UNI) Leader of Opposition L K Advani today asked the people to bring to power a clean, efficient and responsive government and said that it was not without reason that the ruling Congress had lost elections in almost all States since the last General Elections. ''We need a good, honest and efficient government. Growth without inclusiveness is meaningless. We need to deploy technology to tackle the problems of poverty and deprivation and improve the quality of the life of the mass of the people,'' Mr Advani said in his address to the 87th AGM of ASSOCHAM.
The BJP stalwart gave the reasons as to why the NDA was opposed to the Indo-US nuclear deal and the BJP's opposition to the SEZ policy. Mr Advani clarified that his party was not opposed to acquiring nuclear fuel from America, but to the Hyde Act which would have restricted India's freedom to carry out Pokhran-III. He accused Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of having made several statements, including some in Parliament, which did not match with the 123 Agreement.
Mr Advani's speech was marked with wit and humour and often his light hearted comments went well with the audience. Outgoing ASSOCHAM President V N Dhoot described Mr Advani as a possible future Prime Minister and a man of vision with immense love for his country.
Going back to history, Mr Advani said the first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, had opposed India becoming a nuclear weapon state, but several years later, his daughter Indira Gandhi did just the opposite and carried out the Pokhran-I test.He said in 1998 when the BJP government was in power, it conducted the Pokhran-II test in the face of strict opposition from the world. It was for this reason it would want the country to retain its independence to conduct nuclear tests in the future.The former Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister said a solution could have been found by appointing a Joint Parliamentary Committee, which was not done. Instead, the government appointed a Committee to which the Left was a party, but all other political parties were kept out. He said had the government heeded the advice of setting up the JPC, perhaps the deal could have been gone through.
Mr Advani said the election after the emergency had brought to the fore the maturity of the Indian electorate. In State after State, the government, which had imposed the emergency, had lost at the hustings. He said a famous BBC correspondent had argued with him that the opposition parties had not the slightest chance of winning these elections, even though they would improve on their performance as a result of sympathy they would get for having served in jail on political grounds. ''The results alarmed me. They were beyond belief. In State after State, especially the Northern States, the ruling party lost miserably. In fact in some States like Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, Congress did not get even get a single seat. I salute the maturity of the Indian electorate. For those who do not perform have to bow out of power,'' Mr Advani said.
Mr Advani said the BJP was opposed to the SEZ policy in the manner it which it was being implemented. The concept borrowed from China was intended to promote exports.The fashion in which it was pursued in the country had sometimes little to do with export promotion and the proliferation of SEZs raised doubts in the minds of many, he said.In China, just a handful of SEZs have helped leapfrog exports to a phenomenally high level.
Mr Advani said he has been schooled in the philosophy of Mahatma Gandhi and Deen Dayal Upadhaya, who had preached taking care of the last man. He said the present high growth would be a meaningless affair unless it catered to the poor.He said while his party was opposed to the Soviet model of the Communist philosophy. It was equally against blind pursuit of the Western model, where the markets by way of the trickle-down effect would eliminate poverty. In a poor country like India, the State cannot simply wither away, but must also not interfere in its economic functioning. Mr Advani argued that a way of removing poverty, deprivation and hunger would be a deployment of technology on a large scale and for the benefit of the masses.He described the IT as a greatest revolution of the century, even more important than the wheel. He said it was this internet revolution which needs to be replicated at the grass root level to bring about awareness, knowledge and empowerment.
Mr Advani referred to the splendid performance of some BJP-ruled states and in this context cited the example of Madhya Pradesh, which has drastically brought down the Infant Mortality Rate and Maternal Mortality Rate. It is for the lack of achievement of the social indicators that India gets ranked poorly on the Human Development Index compiled by the United Nation.
He referred to a conversation with slain former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto who explained to him the reasons why India has a vibrant democracy. The two great assets of India were a zealously independent Election Commission and an apolitical Army.
Mr Advani said there was a new sense of confidence and pride in the country. The British had disparaged everything that was Indian. In this regard, he cited the book written by Catherine Mayo 'Mother India,' which was nothing but an endictment of India, Hinduism and all else that was central to the country. ''After reading Catherine's book, I went back and read leaders like Lala Lajpat Rai who instilled a sense of pride in me. Many years later, Will Durant, a well known philosopher, took upon himself the task of rebutting everything that Catherine Mayo had argued about the great potential of India and Indians.''
Mr Advani claimed that the erstwhile Soviet Union was pressurising India to follow their model. An editorial of 'Pravda', a main newspaper of the erstwhile Soviet Union, contended that India was a backward country, full of superstition and one with a colonial past. It can only get rid of these by adopting the Soviet system of planning and development.
Mr Advani said in all humility, he had come to learn from the wisdom of business and industry and other experts. He asked ASSOCHAM to draw out a blue print for growth and development and tackling the issue of equity.

Indian Government hikes fuel prices; Opposition, Left on warpath

New Delhi, Jun 4 (UNI) After dithering for months, the government today finally took a plunge announcing a hike of Rs 5 for petrol, Rs 3 for diesel and Rs 50 on LPG cylinder, but the unprecedented hike raised a political storm and hit the common man.The Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs (CCPA), which met this morning, took a decision to hike prices of petrol and petroleum products as a part of the process to bail out the beleaguered the Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs).The under-recoveries of OMCs, which were to the tune of Rs 2,45,305 crore in current fiscal before the hike, would now be reduced to Rs 1,35,000 crore on account of cut in customs and excise duties as well as the price hike. The burden on the exchequer on account of duty cuts would be Rs 22,660 crore and the price hike will benefit OMCs by Rs 21,123 crore. Revenue Secretary P V Bhide said the government will issue oil bonds to the order of Rs 94,600 crore as part of the multi-pronged bail-out strategy. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh took an unusual step to address the nation as to what necessitated the hike and the consequences of further delays in taking such an action. Global crude oil prices have touched an all-time high of 135 dollars a barrel, but the government was reluctant to pass on the entire burden to the consumer, reeling under spiralling prices of essential commodities.This compelled the government to work out a multi-pronged strategy, but the decision did not go well either with the political parties or public at large.Dubbing the hike ''suicidal,'' the Left parties announced a dawn-to-dusk bandh tomorrow in the Left-ruled States of West Bengal, Kerala and Tripura as part of their week-long nationwide agitation against the decision.The BJP and other opposition parties were quick to capitalize on the hike, with political pundits predicting that this would become a major issue in the year-end Assembly Elections.Some States took a cue from the government's advice and announced a reduction in sales tax to bring down the burden on the consumer. The first to do so was Maharashtra, and states like Andhra Pradesh and Kerala said they would take a decision on the matter soon.

The rigjig on duties entailed abolishing custom duty on crude from the present level of five per cent. The custom duty on HSD and petrol has been brought down from 7.5 per cent to 2.5 per cent.The customs duty on petroleum products was reduced from 10 per cent to 5 per cent.The excise duty on HSD and petrol has been slashed by Rs one per litre. Petroleum Minister Murli Deora said no rollback was on the cards and the price hike will have only a minimal impact of 0.5-0.6 per cent on inflation. A zigzag battle ensued between Mr Deora and the Left parties, with the former saying that the government had taken the Left on board, while CPI(M) General Secretary Prakash Karat claiming that they had not been taken into confidence by the government.The Minister said he will seek SLR status for the oil bonds, but whether the Reserve Bank will agree to this was still a question mark.The chambers complimented the government for having performed a fine balancing act in the difficult situation that it is faced with and said growth necessitates a reduction on oil subsidies.They also lauded the government for having taken recourse to a multi-pronged approach and enjoined upon the State governments to restructure the sales tax regime to reduce the agony of the common man.

A worried Prime Minister constituted a three-member high powered committee headed by former Cabinet Secretary B K Chaturvedi to examine the impact of oil price hikes in the past four years and the financial position of oil companies. In his address to the nation, Dr Singh conceded that the hike would be unpopular, and said the increase was ''bare minimum.''The Prime Minister appealed for adopting measures for conservation of energy and called for development of renewable energy sources.''Business cannot go on like this for ever...we need to be efficient and economical in our use of energy. And we need to pay the economic cost of petroleum products,'' Dr Singh said.The biggest refinery in the country, Indian Oil Corporation, reacted positively to the news, saying that it will improve its liquidity and will bring down the cash losses of the ailing giant.An ONGC spokesman said the customs duty cut will have a negative impact of Rs 2,000 crore, but the oil industry stalwart Subir Raha regretted that the issues of targeting oil subsidy and price volatility have not been addressed.The auto sector howled that the fuel price hike will impact its sales, but felt that it would increase the demand for fuel efficient vehicles. Those who joined the chorus included Maruti, Tata Motors, Hyundai Motors and Ashok Leyland.The fuel hike is roughly of the order of 11 per cent for Petrol, 9.44 per cent for diesel and 17 per cent for LPG.Finance Minister P Chidambaram is on record as having said that the general price level will be impacted in the short run, and was unsure as to where global crude prices were heading.In this entire drama, the most confounded was the man on the street who did not what the future held for him as his real income shrinks and shrinks.