Paris Riots- An Eye Opener for New Delhi
Paris Riots - An Eye Opener for New Delhi
In December month Paris witnessed lot of rioting and arson. People came on street, broke shops, burnt vehicles and damaged public property. The damages done are estimated of value Euro 10 billion.
The protests were not limited to Paris alone but also spread to other parts of France.
These protests were called "Yellow Vest" protests. It started with rise in fuel prices. Diesel prices were increased by 23% in last one year. Emanuel Macron, President of Paris further proposed rise in fuel prices w.e.f. 1st January 2019.
This prompted drivers of many commercial vehicles to come on road and protest. French law warrants that each vehicle should have yellow vest which has high visibility in fog. The protesters chose to wear these yellow vests when protesting and hence it is called'yellow vest protest.'
The present Government in France also chose to impose tax on overtime wages earned by workers. The taxation on pensioners was also very adverse and they are finding it difficult to meet two ends. The long pending demand ofincrease in minimum wages and year-end bonus was not met but on other hand wealth tax was not applicable. This labelled Macron Government as Government for rich people and anti-poor.
The protests were joined by workers, pensioners and even small businessmen who were suffering for this new taxation.
Paris has witnessed protests on 4 consecutive weekends and next weekend is also expected to be stormy. One thing which has to be noted is that protesters are working during week and protesting on weekend.They cannot afford to abstain from working as otherwise they will starve.
If you compare demands of protestors with that of India then situation is ditto.
1) Fuel price hike
this is happening consistently in India. Even when prices of fuel in world market dropped prices here continued to rise. Petroleum companies are given free hand and pricing is on cost plus basis. Many refineries are old and costs have been recovered long backhowever they continue to charge more.
Central Government and State Government make lot of money by imposing tax on fuel. Last time after lot of uproar Government had to bend backward and cut excise duty on fuel.
Now OPEC have cut their production and fuel prices are likely to rise further.
We are sure to have protests
2) Year End Bonus
many companies who have had brunt of demonetization and GST have not done well and conveniently skipped bonus to workers.
Festival of lamps -Diwali was low key affair and even traders and shop keepers have not done well.
3) Taxation
In India more you earn more you pay more tax. There is no incentive to work hard.
If one invests in mutual funds to fight inflation then there is double taxation.
Many GST rates are more than excise duty paid earlier. Even free meals in Gurudwara are not spared. Houses booked under construction GST is applicable.
4) Favoritism to few
Loans from bank are doled out to rich without any proper security. This has resulted into lot many NPAs which ultimately common tax payer will end up paying.
5) Pensioners sufferings
Income of Pensioners is mainly from interest on fixed deposits. After demonetization there was drop in interest rates which brought tears to their eyes.
4) Employment
in India also unemployment is on rise and those having jobs are also losing them.
5) High living costs
the cost of living in urban and as well rural areas is on rise. Higher fuel cost straight away translates into higher prices for vegetables, milk, grocery, and poultry items etc. The cost of electricity and water tax is on rise. In some places even drinking water has to be purchased. The cost of commuting is on rise and so also cost of clothing, rentals for houses and education.
6) Daily wagesafter demonetization the sector which suffered most is daily wage earners. There was cash economy which disappeared suddenly.
The minimum wage level specified by Government is not in line with living cost. At the same time employers cannot afford more wages due to competitive pricing.
What happened in Paris is not overnight phenomenon. France has been suffering for long time and economy became stagnant. The factories manufacturing products did not remain competitive and cheap imports was only option. This resulted into unemploymentto the extent that there are beggars on streets of Paris.
During my visits to France I have been interacting with employees, taxi driver and hotel staff. What I could see is that they are very tight on their daily budgets. Also at the end of month they had to wait for salary to commence any new purchase May it be daily essentials.
When France won World Cup there was big celebration as they otherwise had nothing else to celebrate in their routine life.
Another thing that has happened is it has become city of migrants. They basically came here to earn money and since they are not able to they are turning violent.
The present situation also reminds me of French Revolution which happened in 1789 to 1799.
French government was in debt after fighting war. They opted to fill their coffers by unpopular taxation system. This has put tremendous strain on citizen’s resources. The situation worsened after bad harvest.People came on streets and protested. One can say history repeats itself and it has repeated after 220 years.
What happened in France then also spread to neighboring countries and rest of world. The movement triggered to global decline of absolute monarchy and rise of republics and liberal democracies. It was turning point of modern history.
Those countries who have similar issues like France and are sitting pretty over these issues need to take corrective action before it is too late.
In France President Macron ordered arrest of people who were rioting. This had adverse effect and more came on streets. Even students joined and they observed "Black Tuesday". As per students they were tired of not being listened to.
They were protesting against new requirement of admissions, new testing policies and lack of enrollment places.
There was demand for ouster of Macron. The message from people was very clear and Government had to bend backward. They suspended proposed fuel price hike indefinitely. They also added 100 euro to minimum wages but did not touch wealth tax. The reaction of people was that it is too little which has been done. But then from Government side he had to roll back these income measures.
New Delhi has to be also alert and ensure that common man is not fleeced in their quest for funds. In order to meet heavy Government expenditure if you target your own citizens to pay more taxes then they are sure to come on streets.
Datt Udas
datt.udas63@gmail.com
In December month Paris witnessed lot of rioting and arson. People came on street, broke shops, burnt vehicles and damaged public property. The damages done are estimated of value Euro 10 billion.
The protests were not limited to Paris alone but also spread to other parts of France.
These protests were called "Yellow Vest" protests. It started with rise in fuel prices. Diesel prices were increased by 23% in last one year. Emanuel Macron, President of Paris further proposed rise in fuel prices w.e.f. 1st January 2019.
This prompted drivers of many commercial vehicles to come on road and protest. French law warrants that each vehicle should have yellow vest which has high visibility in fog. The protesters chose to wear these yellow vests when protesting and hence it is called'yellow vest protest.'
The present Government in France also chose to impose tax on overtime wages earned by workers. The taxation on pensioners was also very adverse and they are finding it difficult to meet two ends. The long pending demand ofincrease in minimum wages and year-end bonus was not met but on other hand wealth tax was not applicable. This labelled Macron Government as Government for rich people and anti-poor.
The protests were joined by workers, pensioners and even small businessmen who were suffering for this new taxation.
Paris has witnessed protests on 4 consecutive weekends and next weekend is also expected to be stormy. One thing which has to be noted is that protesters are working during week and protesting on weekend.They cannot afford to abstain from working as otherwise they will starve.
If you compare demands of protestors with that of India then situation is ditto.
1) Fuel price hike
this is happening consistently in India. Even when prices of fuel in world market dropped prices here continued to rise. Petroleum companies are given free hand and pricing is on cost plus basis. Many refineries are old and costs have been recovered long backhowever they continue to charge more.
Central Government and State Government make lot of money by imposing tax on fuel. Last time after lot of uproar Government had to bend backward and cut excise duty on fuel.
Now OPEC have cut their production and fuel prices are likely to rise further.
We are sure to have protests
2) Year End Bonus
many companies who have had brunt of demonetization and GST have not done well and conveniently skipped bonus to workers.
Festival of lamps -Diwali was low key affair and even traders and shop keepers have not done well.
3) Taxation
In India more you earn more you pay more tax. There is no incentive to work hard.
If one invests in mutual funds to fight inflation then there is double taxation.
Many GST rates are more than excise duty paid earlier. Even free meals in Gurudwara are not spared. Houses booked under construction GST is applicable.
4) Favoritism to few
Loans from bank are doled out to rich without any proper security. This has resulted into lot many NPAs which ultimately common tax payer will end up paying.
5) Pensioners sufferings
Income of Pensioners is mainly from interest on fixed deposits. After demonetization there was drop in interest rates which brought tears to their eyes.
4) Employment
in India also unemployment is on rise and those having jobs are also losing them.
5) High living costs
the cost of living in urban and as well rural areas is on rise. Higher fuel cost straight away translates into higher prices for vegetables, milk, grocery, and poultry items etc. The cost of electricity and water tax is on rise. In some places even drinking water has to be purchased. The cost of commuting is on rise and so also cost of clothing, rentals for houses and education.
6) Daily wagesafter demonetization the sector which suffered most is daily wage earners. There was cash economy which disappeared suddenly.
The minimum wage level specified by Government is not in line with living cost. At the same time employers cannot afford more wages due to competitive pricing.
What happened in Paris is not overnight phenomenon. France has been suffering for long time and economy became stagnant. The factories manufacturing products did not remain competitive and cheap imports was only option. This resulted into unemploymentto the extent that there are beggars on streets of Paris.
During my visits to France I have been interacting with employees, taxi driver and hotel staff. What I could see is that they are very tight on their daily budgets. Also at the end of month they had to wait for salary to commence any new purchase May it be daily essentials.
When France won World Cup there was big celebration as they otherwise had nothing else to celebrate in their routine life.
Another thing that has happened is it has become city of migrants. They basically came here to earn money and since they are not able to they are turning violent.
The present situation also reminds me of French Revolution which happened in 1789 to 1799.
French government was in debt after fighting war. They opted to fill their coffers by unpopular taxation system. This has put tremendous strain on citizen’s resources. The situation worsened after bad harvest.People came on streets and protested. One can say history repeats itself and it has repeated after 220 years.
What happened in France then also spread to neighboring countries and rest of world. The movement triggered to global decline of absolute monarchy and rise of republics and liberal democracies. It was turning point of modern history.
Those countries who have similar issues like France and are sitting pretty over these issues need to take corrective action before it is too late.
In France President Macron ordered arrest of people who were rioting. This had adverse effect and more came on streets. Even students joined and they observed "Black Tuesday". As per students they were tired of not being listened to.
They were protesting against new requirement of admissions, new testing policies and lack of enrollment places.
There was demand for ouster of Macron. The message from people was very clear and Government had to bend backward. They suspended proposed fuel price hike indefinitely. They also added 100 euro to minimum wages but did not touch wealth tax. The reaction of people was that it is too little which has been done. But then from Government side he had to roll back these income measures.
New Delhi has to be also alert and ensure that common man is not fleeced in their quest for funds. In order to meet heavy Government expenditure if you target your own citizens to pay more taxes then they are sure to come on streets.
Datt Udas
datt.udas63@gmail.com
Cell: 08074207442, 8828200418
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