The popular dubbing right now, I am told by a close friend, goes as ‘Singh is King’. The UPA government managed to scrape through and is now in power without the nudging Left.

I watched bits of the debate and it was appalling to see the stature of politicians who have the nation’s blood supply in their hands. Although Manmohan Singh did not get a chance to speak, he submitted his speech to the Speaker, and which is now made available for the public.

Read the entire speech here (I highly recommend you do so).

The conclusion of the speech stands out brilliantly:

The Management and governance of the world’s largest, most diverse and most vibrant democracy is the greatest challenge any person can be entrusted with, in this world. It has been my good fortune that I was entrusted with this challenge over four years ago. I thank with all sincerity the Chairperson of the UPA, the leaders of the Constituent Parties of the UPA and every member of my Party for the faith and trust they reposed in me. I once again recall with gratitude the guidance and support I have received from Shri Jyoti Basu and Sardar Harkishen Singh Surjeet.

I have often said that I am a politician by accident. I have held many diverse responsibilities. I have been a teacher, I have been an official of the Government of India, I have been a member of this greatest of Parliaments, but I have never forgotten my life as a young boy in a distant village.

Every day that I have been Prime Minister of India I have tried to remember that the first ten years of my life were spent in a village with no drinking water supply, no electricity, no hospital, no roads and nothing that we today associate with modern living. I had to walk miles to school, I had to study in the dim light of a kerosene oil lamp. This nation gave me the opportunity to ensure that such would not be the life of our children in the foreseeable future.

Sir, my conscience is clear that on every day that I have occupied this high office, I have tried to fulfill the dream of that young boy from that distant village.

The greatness of democracy is that we are all birds of passage! We are here today, gone tomorrow! But in the brief time that the people of India entrust us with this responsibility, it is our duty to be honest and sincere in the discharge of these responsibilities. As it is said in our sacred texts, we are responsible for our actions and we must act without coveting the rewards of such action. Whatever I have done in this high office I have done so with a clear conscience and the best interests of my country and our people at heart. I have no other claims to make.

To give a personal opinion, I stand for the nuclear deal. Hence, I am glad that the UPA got the go ahead to pursue the deal.

In the last budget, the Finance Minister had announced a significantly sized loan waiver for farmers. While this had economists starting to talk and the pro-farmer lobby to celebrate, I was keen to know how this plan was implemented and what is its real impact on the people concerned.

After some searching, I found that Mint has been running a sort of constant coverage of events related to the loan waiver.

There are some interesting things happening out there, cut-off from our inflation glazed spectacles:

1. On Day 6 of the Yavatmal, Maharashtra coverage, the report states that there is a new class of farmers who are agitated and disappointed. Reason? The Government had promised that waivers will be given to farmers holding lands upto 5 acres in size. Now, in the Yavatmal region, the measurement system adopted is a traditional one where 2.2 hectares make up 5 acres. According to the Government and the new measurement system, 2 hectares make up 5 acres. Therefore, many farmers who hold 5 acres according to the traditional measurement system will lose out on the waiver. In fact, this makes one question the idea of a size limit. What the article states is that in areas like Vidharbha, the productivity is low and hence farmers need to have larger holdings of land in order to earn on par with farmers in other areas.

2. In Mandya district of Karnataka, a farmer M. Maraiah has a loan of Rs. 10,000 against him. This loan has been waived off. Reason for Maraiah to celebrate right? Wrong. He had already sold off that land since he was unable to pay back that loan ages ago. So the waiver didn’t really make any difference to him. His current profession: Daily wage labourer. Agriculture is just not viable, he says.

3. In the village of Sampla, Haryana, the farmers don’t care about this whole waiver stuff. Real estate prices are so high here that almost every farmer is a potential millionaire. No debates happening here.

4. In Bharatpur, Rajasthan, less than 4 out of 10 farmers default in their loans. Quite naturally, majority of the people are highly discontent on this waiver scheme. An excerpt:

A farmer from Talimpur village, who took a Rs2 lakh loan for sinking a borewell on his farm, was also all set to start paying off his dues. “I could not start paying back last year because the crop failed,” said the farmer, who identified himself only as Ashok. “This year, with early rains, I was thinking of paying off but now I am expecting to qualify for the loan waiver.”

Check out Mint’s complete coverage here. There are views of bankers too, which convey a different picture from what the politicians say. I found the insights very interesting. Economics isn’t really just about demand and supply, is it?

The government is contemplating removing the subsidy on petrol. Which will effectively hike up petrol prices by more than Rs. 10. On a purely economic basis, this appears to be a good decision.

The subsidy on diesel shall remain. This too is good economic sense because most of the essential goods are ferried across the country on diesel fuel. Additionally, farmers make use of diesel for their agricultural activities.

However, where this will backfire is there will be a greater demand for diesel run automobiles. All the swank and big cars nowadays sport technologically advanced diesel engines. With petrol prices going significantly up (and hence the difference between petrol and diesel prices crossing a critical threshold), diesel cars shall become the natural choice of all new car buyers. Which essentially means that the subsidy on diesel shall be availed by people who don’t really need the subsidy, and hence the oil companies will continue to bleed.

What the government needs to do is classify diesel into two categories: Automobile Diesel and Essential Diesel. Automobile Diesel shall be available only at the various fuel pumps across the country and shall not be subsidized. This will bring in a parity on petrol and diesel prices and at the same time will not be a burden on our publicly owned petroleum corporations.

Essential Diesel should be the one used by essential services (including transport vehicles which are used to ferry grains and essential commodities) and for farmers. And yes, this one should be subsidized (of course, there is a whole set of arguments against the concept of subsidy itself, but I shall refrain from commenting on that here).

Now the question is: How do we prevent automobile users from misusing this system and driving their cars using the Essential Diesel? Although both the categories are essentially (no pun intended) the same fuel, a color solvent can easily be added to the Automobile Diesel without affecting the properties of the fuel.

The color solvent shall ensure that the Automobile Diesel looks different from Essential Diesel. Now, the law enforcement agencies, who catch drivers to check for invalid licenses or below age driving, should conduct random checks on the color of the Diesel used in the vehicle. A sample of the diesel shall give away whether the fuel used was Automobile Diesel or not. If not, then the fine should be a hefty one (and a share of the fine should be passed on to the petroleum corporations) and this should serve as a deterrent for users from misusing the system.

Of course, law enforcement agencies have been found wanting in executing their duties sincerely, but then that is an administration issue that needs to be looked at. If the above system is implemented, then the subsidy on diesel shall go to the rightful recipients, our petroleum companies will breathe a little freely, and there will be a reasonable demand for mass transport systems across our cities.