It's not the illiterate crowd that bothers me, it is the unthinking leader who does. There is a subsidy of around Rs.400 (approx) per LPG cylinder. The government seems unable to muster the courage to get rid of the entire subsidy. Logic would go like this: an LPG cylinder would last minimum a month, most likely much longer for most families (In any case subsidised cyclinders are capped at 9, equal to 1.5 months per cylinder) An increase of Rs 300-400 per month/2months is not about to disastrously pinch a middle class household (BPL families are likely to be using another subsidised fuel-kerosene) compared to a Rs.30-40/kg increase in price of onions. Better to bite the bullet early & in a large enough quantity to essentially have money for development. These high speed, semi high speed trains will require quite a bit of funding, won't be coming out of anyone's backside. Rather than move funding out of other infrastructural projects, better to ease out wasteful subsidies.
Btw, I found the Railway Minister's(& other ministers & party spokesmen) behaviour with the price increase silly. Should have owned the increase in prices & then pointed out that the previous government also wanted to do the same but lacked the guts & governance skills necessary. Can't blame the previous government endlessly, people don't buy it & makes you look stupid. Except for suburban users in Mumbai, there was hardly any protest, politicans were the only ones who wanted drama. The average public accepts such increases, not like people grudge it immensely.
