Rs 130,000,000,000! That's the cost of Bharat bandh

Rs 130,000,000,000! That's the cost of Bharat bandh



'Can the political parties feed my family today?'

Meru Cabs suffer Rs 25 lakh loss

'This govt has earned a bad reputation'

'A bandh serves no purpose'

'Our profits have come down by 20%'

'I support this bandh if it brings down the prices'

'Petrol @ Rs 53/litre is simply absurd'

'It's time we threw the UPA govt away'

'The strike will not benefit us in any way'

Last updated on: July 5, 2010 19:55 IST

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Stating that the Bharat bandh called by the Opposition against fuel price hike has cost the economy around Rs 13,000 crore (Rs 130 billion), the industry on Monday said the protest is "odd and absurd".

"It (bandh) is not justified at all. Political parties interfering and disturbing day-to-day work is not at all appropriate. The protest is quite odd and absurd. They will only lose their political ground," Godrej group chairman Adi Godrej told PTI.

According to Assocham, the strike eroded the national GDP "by a production loss of nearly a full day which in monetary terms can be roughly estimated at Rs 13,000 crore."

The calculation is based on assumption that the GDP would stay around Rs 50 lakh crore with a growth rate of over 8 per cent in current fiscal, Assocham added.

The CII on the other hand estimated the total loss to the economy on account of the national strike "would be greater than Rs 3,000 crore (Rs 30 billion)."

The entire Opposition has called a bandh on Monday against the recent Rs 2 per litre hike in diesel prices and decontrolling of petrol prices that led to an increase in price by Rs 3.5 a litre.

While stating that the increase in prices of petroleum products will naturally put some additional burden on the common man, Bajaj Auto chairman and Rajya Sabha member Rahul Bajaj said, "I believe the government had no choice but to take this step, which was long overdue. Otherwise, oil companies would have been in serious difficulty."

He, however, said bandhs are against national interest and also cause serious inconvenience to the common man.

"I can understand some protests by the Opposition parties to this step. However, I am against bandhs," he added.

Supporting the government decision, CII director general Chandrajit Banerjee said the chamber "has been a strong advocate of market-linked pricing and taxation of petroleum products and hopes to see the reforms in this direction completed in the course of the year."

While Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry did not comment on the national strike, PHDCCI said transportation was severely hit in Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.

Rediff.com presents the voice of India on whether the Bharat Bandh to counter price rise serves its purpose. We are also incorporating here some of the messages that our readers posted below another slide show on the same issue.

If your business too has suffered losses because of Monday's bandh please share your experience with our readers.

Text: PTI

Click NEXT to read further...


Image: Activists from the Rashtriya Mahila Brigade (National Women's Brigade) hold swords and sticks as they block a railway track during Bharat bandh in Patna.
Photographs: Krishna Murari Kishan/Reuters



It was political and not by common man.

by exotic on Jul 08, 2010 06:04 AM | Hide replies

It is such a sad state that political thugs are ruling our lives. The bandh was more for politicis by opposition for elections than for the common man.

As you see the cost will finally be on the people only because the opposotion will not lose any of their perks because of this loss to the economy.

But we are always carried away by hype and get fooled by political parties be it opposition or ruling.

If we had to protest on our own we must go for mass stayagraha or non co-operation in our individual organisations by not going to work or by slow work or some other tactics which will show our feelings rather than shout behind different party flags which will eventualy benefit those parties .



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Imaginary Figure
by rajiv dandekar on Jul 07, 2010 08:22 PM | Hide replies

Arithmatically you can calculate notional figures as you desire.
Please answer what is the way the common man to
protest against Price Rise and cost of Living.
Please do not forget that THIS BLOODY FOOL COMMON MAN is the biggest consuner of all your products. Answer with HONESTY " HOW MANY MANUFACTURERS HAVE DEVELOPED THEIR PRODUCTS BY
PUMPING MONEY IN RESEARCH AND DEVELOPEMENT."
All are just copy cats with kid and glove nexus
with NEHRUCRACY.
They are not only sycophants but dangerous to the Indian Citizens.
They were and are MUTE spectators to the policy of development employed by the NEHRUCRATS for the last 63 years.
They plan SEZS but at whose cost? They want Industrial Estates at whose cost?
They want to build MEGACITIES again at whose cost? They will get water by submerging crores of HECTARES of fertile land under water dams.
Crores of farmers will be robbed of their belongings and their land. The Menace which these shameless characters plan to unleash is HAZARDOUS to the citizens of this INDIA country which was once BHARAT. They will brutally use SAND from the river bed. Has any NEHRUCRAT has taken pains to change nomenclature from MINOR MINERALS? No why?
Why these Pseudo Insdustrialists do not pay out of pocket for education to all? SIMPLE they get uneducated enemployed cheap labour work force to work for them. These shoddy DADDY'S and CAPTAINS of trade and Industry should answer this. To fullfill their lust they need these NEHR

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Bharat Band
by Ajjoo Indian on Jul 07, 2010 07:33 PM | Hide replies

Very good question from Madhab Mondol. The Opposition should answer his question. If he earned Rs. 350/- he could have buy groccery for his daily needs, even if it is expensive. But now from where he get bread & butter for his family. Bharat Band is total failure concept and should not be call again any more. The country is doing extreamly well and the growth is more than 8% at the the time of gloal financial crisis when many other developed nation could not sustained to the recession. The Bharat Band has given loss of 13,000 Crores and lost of public / private property has been damage. Is this is the way of showing your anger and opposition to the policy of Government. Many political Parties has called for Bharat Band but did any one thought about the emergency of thousands of innocents people who could not reach to hospitals, schools, offices etc. You can not get the power just by doing strikes, you have to deliver the best to people and the nation as the present government is doing. I am not at all a supporter of Congress but the truth is truth . At the time when hundreds of Banks in US has gone bankrupt but it has been proved that Indian is recession proof under the leadership of Dr. Manmohan Sing. People must have listen the last week's speech of American President Barrak Obama that" THE WORLD LISTEN WHEN DR. MANMOHAN SINGH SPEAKS". Realize the truth.

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Loss of Rs.13000 Carores
by Ajjoo Indian on Jul 07, 2010 07:16 PM | Hide replies

I would like to response of Mr. Uddhav dethe' letter with the following :

01) IPL has not organized by Government but by the BCCI with the huge interest of cricket crazy people in India.
02) You can not say it is huge loss to nation, In case if you stop all cricket related activities ( Test, ODI & 20/20, domestice cricket, approx. 6 Million people will loos their livelihood ( Cricketers, organizers, People employed by State Cricket Associations, Stadiums, Commentators, cameraman, Journlists, ground mens', airlines, hotels, private security agencies, sports channel and many many others.)
03.In case if you feel some public holidays are non important, but it is more important for some one else that is why it's declared.
04.Mr. Uddhav, FYI, the amount of development of done by present government under the leadership of Sonia Gandhi, it's tremendous the growth rate is 8.5% at the time global recession. Oppositon keep calling Bharat Band like this then do not ask why the growth is less. The cost is incurred is not for luxury but for Security as same for other oppositon leaders. Many other developed nations spent much more money for security of their leaders.

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The Rising So called superpowers - wheres human rights
by vinu thomas on Jul 07, 2010 03:23 PM | Hide replies

These 2 countries are a employees nightmare,in the surge to be superpowers,in terms of workers rights its almost nil.With labour available easily ,wages are minimal with no set hours of work.Most have a redundant family and social except a few big wigs and of course the government officials.In India ofcourse you have corruption in every circle with the lawmakers as a start .The court system is a laugh with criminals being punished after their retirement for crimes conducted when they were teens.Police make challans to fill their own pockets ,hardly anyone I spoke to have ever paid into the government coffers all the cops do is ensure they have a big pant to take in all the fines and a share goes to the top officers also whose waist line keeps extending with every promotion they get .

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is it really that much ??
by RJP on Jul 07, 2010 01:26 PM | Hide replies

Absurd logic used to calculate the loss !!
(4800000 crore GDP/365 days) !!
Not all states were completely shut.
Railways/buses/autos/taxis/flights were running, even though with less frequency.
Impact of the bandh was felt more in urban areas, than rural.
This logic assumes that on 05-Jul, no farmer went to his farms !! (17% of GDP comes from Agri)
Effect of bandh was very less on the organised sector, and that too in the urban centres.
The loss calculation logic assumes that there was a TOTAL shutdown of the country !! (which even those who had called for the bandh would not accept !!)

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Bharat Bandh
by uddhav dethe on Jul 07, 2010 10:59 AM | Hide replies

Rediff should stop such hate mongering for opposition and also stop licking the foot of Gandhi family.In domocracy pepoles have the rights to express their anger,griviences when nobody listens to them.Rediff is much more concrned about losses to corporate houses than common man.These corporates have looted the public in many ways, now these thives are crying foul.If Rediff has guts they should answer following questions
1.How much mony have been wasted through IPL 20-20 which runs almost for 45 days,every one knows who runs this IPL
2.Time,man hr.,money wasted due to cricket matches whether it one dayer or test matches.These corporates are sponcers of such things which gives hefty profit to them but actualy loss to nation.
3.Why you have not calculated non important public holidays?
4.cost incurred in luxury of Gandhi family which enjoyes power without responsibility.


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What about
by Soj on Jul 07, 2010 10:41 AM | Hide replies

What about saving of fuel in one day. Saving of life due to reduced accidents as all vehicles were off the road. what about one day total relax & rest of people. what about reduction in pollution. so many advantages

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