The Tale of Anti-Green Comrades

There is a proposal to raise petrol prices by about ten rupees and once again the left is up in arms against the proposal. It is unfortunate to know that people who claim to speak for the interests of the downtrodden can be so naive when taking a stand on a issue as important as the issue of fuel pricing.When leftists around the world are urging policy makers to take steps towards reducing global carbon emissions, the Indian left is supporting policies of fuel subsidization- a policy that would encourage fuel consumption and lead to a worsening of the emission scenario.
Climate Change is one of the biggest problems that mankind faces today. The fourth IPCC report concludes that the adverse impact of human activities on global climate has been established beyond doubt.Global temperatures have risen by about o.3-o.6 degree C in the last hundred years. If things continue in the way they are temperatures will rise by more than 2 degress in the next century or so and this might lead to catastrophes like melting of the antarctic and change in the direction of ocean currents.What is interesting is that people who enjoy the fruits of fuel run economy are not the ones who will be effected by any such catastrophes. If sea levels rise , the Bangaladeshi farmer living in the Gangetic delta will be homeless. The South Delhi executive driving his Santro on subsidized fuel will hardly be effected. Even if affected marginally,he will have the resources to adapt. The Buddhadev Bhattacharya supporter who drives Nano will have the resources to migrate to Purulia or Darjeeling in case Calcutta gets submerged due to rise n the sea level. Under such circumstances the Left (all shades of red) response to fuel price hike is myopic to say the least.
Not only do the poor bear the burden of climate change, they don't even enjoy the benefits of fuel subsidy which is often justified on the grounds that they help the poor.An analysis of the 61st round National Sample Survey reveals that any subsidy on transport fuels is highly regressive. The Budget share of transport fuels is high for the rich compared to the poor.More than eighty percent of Indian households don't even consume a single liter of transport fuel in a year. Only the top 20 percent of India consumes subsidized transport fuel. Some may argue that fuel is an input in the production of various goods and that a removal of subsidies might raise their price. While such a claim is true, a careful input output study will show that a increase in the price of fuel input doesn't raise the price of necessities like food items. In other words, goods used by the Indian poor are not very sensitive to fuel prices. In fact a Input Output study by a graduate student of the Indian Statistical Institute reveals that a subsidy on transport fuel is regressive even when one includes all such indirect effects.
Under such circumstances any left opposition to fuel price hike can mean only one thing: the official Indian left is busy protecting the interests of the middle classes at the cost of the poor. The incidents of Singur and Nandigram had given birth to such a suspicion, the current left position on fuel pricing is strengthening it.