May be India is suffering from Gastro-nomics
Or , from , Gas - to - Economics
Call what you may , the disease seems deadly !
Minister Veerappa Moily , responding to Arvind
Kejriwal's FIR , said :
" I sympathize with Arvind's ignorance. Gas
pricing is a very complex issue "
What he would NOT say , is :
" How dare
you , Aam Aadmi , try to unravel in a few weeks , what took us years of hard
work to complicate ?
To increase
gas price from $ 2.34 to $ 4.20 to $ 8.40 , involves complicated calculations ,
- worse than sending a man to moon
Couldn't you
appreciate that all the odds were stacked against us ?
"
Moily , Murli and Mukesh , would like us to leave it to
the lawyers , the experts and the Supreme Court to decide what ought to be the
FAIR and REASONABLE ( - please , don't ask , " to whom ? " ) , price
of KG gas
But Aam Aadmi would like these experts to compile - and
publish - some statistics re: the prices at which , companies around the World
, produce and sell gas
As a aam aadmi , I would like to see a COMPARATIVE
TABULATION of gas selling prices being charged all over the World , under
following scenarios :
# A
Domestic Companies
which " extract " gas from the " Domestic Fields " of their
own countries on a " Contract " basis ( deploying labor / management
/ technology / capital ) , on a " Production Sharing " basis
At what prices
do they sell that gas to ,
* Their own
local government / local companies
* Overseas
governments and companies
# B
Companies
which extract gas from " Foreign Fields " under a license from each
foreign government or thru outright " Owning " of those fields
At what price do they sell gas to ,
* Other
companies of the host country
* other
companies world - wide
* Companies in
India
# C
Purely "
Trading " companies ( which do not engage in drilling / exploring /
production )
At what price do they sell gas world - wide ? To
India ?
How much do their selling price to India differ from
their prices world-wide ?
Experts will , no doubt , come up with other
permutations / combinations
And they must
Because , we must try and get , as much of " An Apple for an Apple "
comparison , as possible , to arrive at meaningful conclusions
Other important questions that the Supreme Court will ,
no doubt ask , are :
> World over
, is there a definite co-relation between the " Cost of Production "
and the " Selling Price " ?
Or , is it
just in India ?
> What role
does " World Market Price " play in determining the local selling
price , all over the World ?
Do gas
selling prices in most of the countries , get determined by the world market
prices ? Or , is that a myth ?
> World over
, what is the range of the " Rate of Return on Capital Employed " for
companies like Reliance's " Petroleum business " ?
> Would
Reliance suffer massive losses if current price of $ 4.2 were to continue for a
few more years ?
> Will price
of $ 4.2 , fail to attract foreign investments ?
> Are there sufficient grounds to suspect that the
past - including recent past - decisions in regard to gas selling prices , were
dishonest ?
> Is there a
clear case of collusion between Reliance and individuals occupying high
positions in Central government ?
> Is there a
clear case of corruption ?
Don't expect answers to these questions , any time soon
There is no doubt , at least some answers are bound to
embarrass some people !
In any case , the mouse has dared to roar !
And Aam Aadmi is cheering !
* hemen parekh
( 12 Feb
2014 / Mumbai )
No comments:
Post a Comment