Rising Oil Prices

Government of India in order to bring local oil prices in an accord with the international market increased the diesel prices last week after a long hiatus. Last time the petrol prices were raised just after the commencement of voting in five states, raising many eyebrows and doubting government intentions. The government cannot solely be blamed for the opportunistic behaviour, as every ruling party in the country has followed the same way of thinking. 

"When it comes to political opposition, the ideology matters less."

Never missing the chance to bully the government, the opposition parties throughout the county used the stand of the government to cry out loud against the union wrong economic policies and took out protest movements to show the unrest in the minds of people. Majority of the protest sites were in the states ruled by the opposition parties and in other places they disobeyed the local administration orders thus overall disrupting the normal life of people. 

Do such protests yield any result?

Should government roll back the oil price hike?

As already stated, such protests are politically motivated and have no or little public support. Such protests are not more than the demonstration of power by the opposition. And in the recent case it looks like the power of opposition has slipped only to the states being ruled by them. A call for the full day closure of the country hurts the country economic stature badly which subsequently adds to the inflation and burdens the tax-payer. So in no way whatsoever protests like the last week yield desired results. 

Government of India by increasing the oil prices at this crucial juncture added nails to its coffin. Yet, it seems to be a much thought of process. Economically it’s a move to provide some air of relief to the debt ridden oil companies. Politically government knows that none of the opposition party including the NDA is in a better situation to demand for early parliamentary elections which are scheduled for 2014. And the government cleverly knows the fact that the Indian voter if once bombarded with lavish pre-election promises forgives the past mistakes. If the government rolls back the price hike then it will again become a laughing stock before the opposition.

So what’s the solution?

Amazingly, the production of oil from the Middle East over the years has increased still the supply lacks far behind the demand. In my earlier post on the petrol price hike I wrote on how to limit your transportation cost and switching to eco-friendly ways while travelling. Use of public transports must be encouraged and private vehicles must only be used at when utmost desired. Bicycles prove to be the cheapest and eco-friendly mode of transportation for small distances. Use of public transports and bicycles will surely help in reducing the burden on the refineries and will somehow assist in saving the ailing environment.

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Rural Entrepreneurship

While researching over the topic I found “Entrepreneurs” are people who create and grow enterprises and “Entrepreneurship” is the process through which entrepreneurs create and grow enterprises. I guess the definition above suits best for a management class or the government files. Personally I feel, “Entrepreneurs” are people who have the passion and zeal to bring a qualitive change in the society through their mind boggling ideas.  And, “Entrepreneurship” is a process or more of a pathway which they take to fulfill their dreams. 

More than half of the Indian populace live in villages. Indian villages have a huge hidden potential in the fields of traditional arts and crafts, food industry and the like. Most of the rural households are involved in some or the other kind of agricultural service provider units. India's rural economy is primarily agricultural based, but the rapid rise in its population with consequent pressure on land has led the planners to lay greater emphasis on industrial development.

Rural Entrepreneurship may focus on areas like food processing which may include variety of products from various sectors comprising agriculture, horticulture, plantation, animal husbandry and fisheries & marine products. Another area which may be looked into is fruit based beverages. Products like syrups and squashes of orange, mango, lime, pineapple, grape, apple, etc. besides their jam and jelly are very popular among the masses. 

The best example of a rural entrepreneurship may include that of an Oil industry. Crushing of oil seeds to obtain edible oil for human consumption has been an age-old village industry in India.  Another example of rural entrepreneurship may include the pottery, which is traditional industry of rural India, providing employment to many artisans. 

But, one question might be creeping in your mind. That is, what good rural entrepreneurs are doing for the development of our country India? For answering this question we must first understood that there is a huge difference in the standard of life between the two India, let us call them with two different names to make the demarcation easy. The urban, which is more developed, can be called in as the India and its rural counterpart which needs an urgent development can be called as Bharat. So, rural entrepreneurs are doing their bit in order to fill the divide between the India and the Bharat.

Policies like micro-finance are filling the empty pockets of villagers to start-up their own small scale businesses besides giving them a financial security. Rural Entrepreneurship has the power of making rural populace self sufficient which may help in reducing migration of people from villages to cities, thus reducing congestion of resources in cities and towns. 


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