Mind boggling public welfare schemes

Islamabad : Leave alone being an economists, accountant, mathematician or any more of the likes who can understand the money matters or those who can make some sense of the welfare policies our governments always announce for public’s wellbeing and socio-economic uplift, a common man fails to understand as to how it is always the industrialist, the dealer, the trader, the shopkeeper, the transporter, who turns out to be the ultimate beneficiaries of every such policies!

The governments make tall claims while announcing special relief for those consuming the lowest slab of units of electricity as it raises the power tariff, telling poor people how much their government cares for them.

Yet, the poor find out next day that every rich person has immediately started fleecing him the very next morning, making him to pay the extra money he/she would be required to pay to the government because of upward revised power tariff!

For example ‘Aaloo’ (potato), which was available, say for Rs30 per kg yesterday jumped to Rs35 per kg overnight!

“Sir, how come? Yesterday it was for Rs30!”

“Government has increased electricity rates. You can see how many lights, fans are on in this shop only for you to have a good look at the vegetables. So, I have to earn extra to pay electricity bill,” retorts shopkeeper.

The rich has immediately not only off loaded the extra revenue he has to pay to the government but also has made sure that he should be minting money from poor on this pretext! Here goes the welfare policy of government for the poor!

The grocery shop:

“Sir ji! Flour was available for Rs35 per kg yesterday. Why Rs40 today?”

“The government has increased the rates of gas and cylinders,” comes the answer!

“Brother, yesterday you charged Rs300/- for same ride. Now you are asking for Rs350?”

“Petrol prices have gone up Sir. What can we do?” answers the cab driver.

Each time the government raises tariff or taxes on any item, no matter it has taxed the rich and provided relief to the poor, ultimately it is the poor who is paying one way or the other.

In fact, any increase in tariffs or taxes announced by the governments to target the rich, it turns out to be a golden opportunity for the rich to mint more money. Many hundred per cent, in fact, simply by increasing the cost of their merchandize or services they provide.

It is the salaried class, including the daily wage earners, who ultimately take the full brunt of increase of taxes and tariffs by the government. Besides, they also help these people make unimaginable profits! It was absolutely mind boggling to make some simple calculations to find out as to what happens when a vegetable shopkeeper increases price of one simple vegetable like potato (well, potato in fact is not a vegetable but a root!) by five rupee per kg.

Suppose the total sale of potato per day is 500 kg at the cost of Rs25 per kg. Next day, for any reason the price is raised by Rs5 per kg (which has become quite a normal practice). The total increase in income from this one item is Rs2,500per day and Rs75,000/- for a month consisting of 30 days!

Normally, there are at least 50 to 70 different kinds of vegetables/roots/fruits are being sold at one shop. Suppose the increase is only Rs2 per item instead of Rs5. Let’s suppose there are 60 running items in the shop. The average quantity of sale of each item is 100 kg. Prices have been increased by just Rs2 per item. The monthly profit with only Rs2 increase in prices of per items comes to Rs360,000!

Too much time to sit alone and think! One believes these are a layman’s ‘Coronavirus Affect Statistics’!