Fuel Rationing/ Differential Fuel price

Of late even common man has started to track the price of a oil barrel. I remember having discussions in my office with team mates about the price of a oil barrel and its consequences.(Even though professionally price of an oil barrel has nothing to do with my work) . That is the sort of situation we Indians are in now. This is from a lay mans perspective.

But if you think about the fiscal deficit of the oil companies many would agree that these companies are bleeding financially already and so this hike cannot be avoided. If there wasn’t a considerable hike then the oil companies wouldn’t have had money to even import fuel. They would have gone completely bankrupt.

Is fuel rationing and differential price regime of fuels the only saving grace?
To me for a country like India which is almost dependent on imported crude for its usage and where the divide between haves and have nots is huge the answer is yes. I for one , wholeheartedly support subsidies because the so called poverty alleviation programs that are being implemented by the successive government don’t reach the people for whom they were actually planned for. When the government cannot provide ways by which an average Indian cannot increase his/her annual income well above the poverty line then the government definitely has to bear with the overhead of subsidies. But my point is that the government should definitely ponder about the following question.Why should the government sell fuel at subsidized rate for affluent sections of the society? I understand the point in government sharing the cost burden of LPG cylinder of a family whose monthly income is 3000 but why should it give the same LPG cylinder at the same cost to a family whose monthly income is around 50000 ? At the end it is the common man’s tax which goes into government coffers which in turn is given as subsidies. So will the affluent upper middle class and the filthy reach be affected by this increasing prices?Yes I agree they will also be affected but my argument is that they will not be affected to the extent of the common man or a man whose annual income is just above the poverty line. (Please remember that LPG is not the only one there are several items that are been subsidized). For the economically weaker sections their daily bread and butter is affected because of this price hike….
I mean the chain effect this fuel price hike would have on the food items….

So why cant the affluent upper class take this as a moral responsibility and support a price regime wherein they compensate for the fiscal losses in subsidies by filling their fuel drinking SUV petrol tanks at an higher cost? I for one will definitely support and will be ready to pay . But will this be really implemented is a different question for which each one of us has an answer. In an era of vote bank politics there wont be many takers to this idea. But to me this is the only way using which India can safely navigate the current fuel crisis. I understand the cost cutting measures being taken by the current government. But these measures do not have a cascading effect on the society . I personally do not have anything against the filthy rich or the upper middle class (I too belong to one of these section) but it is high time that we as Indian citizens act morally and totally accept this differential pricing concept(if implemented) to tide away the current crisis(if I can call it so). Will we raise to the occasion?

Looking forward for your comments….