COST OF LIVING CRISIS

 

We all know that everything has a cost. Even our living has a cost. Everything we need for our living has a cost. So it is an accepted fact that we have to bear this cost of living. Those who lived for 80-plus years in this world know very well how this cost has increased over years. There was a time when even one rupee counted a lot. One thousand rupees was a great amount. The cost of gold was one hundred rupees or even less per gram in those times. But we very well know how much a gram of gold costs. It’s about Rs. 5000/- or so. So the increase in the cost of everything is a real fact or reality. Somehow we all adjust or manage our income in such a way to accommodate the increasing cost of living.

We do find that the cost of food items – vegetarian and non-vegetarian – is increasing leaps and bounds. Everyone complains but there is no solution in view. The prices of food items only increase but not decrease. However, when the supply increases the cost comes down a bit for a short period of time. The fuel price increase indirectly pushes up the transport costs. Everyone uses transport in one way or another for one’s movement. People have to go to work, school and college almost every day. They have to use one kind or another vehicle that needs petrol or diesel. The prices of these commodities have increased beyond one’s reach. A litre of petrol or diesel is more than Rs. 100/- I still remember in the 1950s if the petrol price is increased in the annual budget by one or two rupees, the political parties to on protests and burned buses and public properties for a day or two. Such was the reaction of the public against the cost of fuels. But today even the public came to understand that the increase in prices is a normal phenomenon.

Such an increase in the cost of living is not unique to India alone. All countries in the world are facing this crisis. Of late we hear that the UK and many other European countries as well as America, Australia and other major countries face the cost of living crisis. They do face an increase in food prices along with other essential items like electricity and gas. The common people are unable to cope with such increases. They cannot live as they lived some twenty years ago. 

The government authorities say that the cause for the increase in the cost of living is inflation. They say some percentage about which many of us are not very familiar. The present inflation in India is 7.8%. They also say that they are trying to bring down inflation to 4% so that the cost of living will come down. But we have to wait and see. It appears that a country’s economics play a role in determining the cost of living. The crisis is coupled with many other economic and financial factors that govern the government administration.

The truth is that poor people are more affected due to the increase in the cost of living. They do need food to eat, dresses to wear, educate their children, and move around to go to work, above all they have to look after their and their family’s health. All these are very expensive. Rich people make it up, but what about the poor ones? Politicians who rule the countries are responsible to find a solution so that the crisis of cost of living can be controlled.

We are taxed directly and indirectly. House tax, water tax, professional tax, income tax, tax on all the commodities we buy, goods and services tax (GST) on every item we buy, liquor tax, road tax and many other taxes are paid to the governments by the citizens. The governments need money to govern the country. They incur enormous expenditures on defence, education, health care, employment etc. I feel that the government is not thinking in terms of saving money. I have a feeling that every government is spending on unnecessary activities and projects. If a committee is put to assessing the unnecessary spending of every government, we will come to know where we can save and control the cost of living crisis. - NARA