A week ago the Indian Railways administration banned all agents from booking tickets for passengers.
Agents have even been banned from entering railway stations. This is ostensibly to stop agents buying up train tickets for their customers, leaving none for those who want to buy their own tickets. There are 1265 registered agents, each serving 500-600 passengers per day and employing 25-30,000 people in total. There are 72 agents in Mumbai serving 60,000 passengers everyday. They are very useful because it is extremely difficult for us to queue up for hours at a station counter and the Railways e-ticketing site is extremely slow. Demand is very high during school holidays in May and during the festival season in October. So why not just fly? Jet Airways has just announced the biggest ever quarterly loss at Rs 21.54 billion. With 22% of the domestic market Jet Airways has been losing Rs 87 million per day and Spice Jet, with 20% share of the market, has been losing Rs 27.5 million per day. Etihad Airways of Abu Dhabi has taken a controlling stake in Jet and soon we will have Air Asia from Malaysia and Singapore Airlines flying domestic routes. Why are our airlines making such humongous losses when there are millions of people wanting to travel? Because most Indians cannot afford to fly because ticket costs are so high. They are high because of extortionate taxes on fuel, on tickets and airports. This is because flying is seen as a luxury which should not be allowed in a poor country. Another industry which is very highly taxed is the drinks industry. Fellows in Delhi have gleefully announced increase in excise duty so that the price of a bottle of beer will jump by Rs 30, about 45%. Someone has to pay for the obscene salaries, foreign travel and pensions of these fellows. So a cool bottle of beer on a hot summers day will now taste bitter. Already our drinks market has been taken over by 2 foreign companies, Diageo and Pernod Ricard. As taxes go up profits will decline so that local breweries will not be able to compete and sell out to foreign companies. They will maximise profits by increasing prices. So we pay ever more while profits go to foreigners. Why this hostility to luxury? Because MK Gandhi disliked alcohol and loved the poor. What is conveniently forgotten is that Gandhi lived extremely frugally while these fellows live in huge air conditioned bungalows, travel first class and stay in 5 star hotels. Poor Gandhi. Elevate him to Mahatma and then use him as a weapon against the people. How very convenient.
Agents have even been banned from entering railway stations. This is ostensibly to stop agents buying up train tickets for their customers, leaving none for those who want to buy their own tickets. There are 1265 registered agents, each serving 500-600 passengers per day and employing 25-30,000 people in total. There are 72 agents in Mumbai serving 60,000 passengers everyday. They are very useful because it is extremely difficult for us to queue up for hours at a station counter and the Railways e-ticketing site is extremely slow. Demand is very high during school holidays in May and during the festival season in October. So why not just fly? Jet Airways has just announced the biggest ever quarterly loss at Rs 21.54 billion. With 22% of the domestic market Jet Airways has been losing Rs 87 million per day and Spice Jet, with 20% share of the market, has been losing Rs 27.5 million per day. Etihad Airways of Abu Dhabi has taken a controlling stake in Jet and soon we will have Air Asia from Malaysia and Singapore Airlines flying domestic routes. Why are our airlines making such humongous losses when there are millions of people wanting to travel? Because most Indians cannot afford to fly because ticket costs are so high. They are high because of extortionate taxes on fuel, on tickets and airports. This is because flying is seen as a luxury which should not be allowed in a poor country. Another industry which is very highly taxed is the drinks industry. Fellows in Delhi have gleefully announced increase in excise duty so that the price of a bottle of beer will jump by Rs 30, about 45%. Someone has to pay for the obscene salaries, foreign travel and pensions of these fellows. So a cool bottle of beer on a hot summers day will now taste bitter. Already our drinks market has been taken over by 2 foreign companies, Diageo and Pernod Ricard. As taxes go up profits will decline so that local breweries will not be able to compete and sell out to foreign companies. They will maximise profits by increasing prices. So we pay ever more while profits go to foreigners. Why this hostility to luxury? Because MK Gandhi disliked alcohol and loved the poor. What is conveniently forgotten is that Gandhi lived extremely frugally while these fellows live in huge air conditioned bungalows, travel first class and stay in 5 star hotels. Poor Gandhi. Elevate him to Mahatma and then use him as a weapon against the people. How very convenient.
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