Karnataka celebrates Kannada Rajyotsava on November 1st with commercial cylinder and milk price rises
Today being the November 1st, we the people of Karnataka celebrate Kannada Rajyotsava. It commemorates the merger in 1956 of the Kannada-speaking regions of southwestern India under the States Reorganisation Act to form the state in Bangalore.
People in Karnataka might be celebrating the Kannada Rajyotsava day today. But, they are definitely not celebrating the the raise of milk price by ₹8 per liter and curd price by ₹14 per liter.
CM defended the hikes by saying farmers need to be protected and cows need to be protected as well and the prices are lowest compared to other states. This might be true.
The price of milk is much higher in our neighbouring States. Milk production is also coming down due to drought. If we had not increased the price, there was a danger of farmers giving the milk they produce to other dairies. So a hike was inevitable.
Owing to drought there is a shortage of green fodder and to protect his cows, he (farmer) needs to have money, even as milk production is coming down. So we had to hike the prices. This is a
way to protect the cows.
Farmers need all the support they deserve. That means even if milk prices are increased to cover costs.
On the other side, the consumers are not going to like this. They will cut down on the amount of Coffee or Tea they usually consume. Restaurants know that they will feel this hike for sure. Bangalore Hotels’ Association opposed milk price hike..
Hotels and restaurants are already facing sharp margin compression because of the rice price going up by 7 Rupees by October. That is up to October. As I write this post, the price of Sona Masoori stands at 80 to 90 Rupees, which is an increase of 23 to 25 Rupees.The Deccan Herald post says the price could reach up to Rs 100 per kg. This is only the price of rice. We haven’t talked about the price of commercial gas cylinders.
The “gift” alone presented by the state government to the people of Karnataka by hiking the prices of milk prices starting from November 1st(Rajyotsava Day) is not enough to satisfy the people of Karnataka. Though they were not satisfied, they didn’t quite expect where they would receive their next gift from for Kannada Rajyotsava Day. The Union Government of India might have skipped celebrating Kannada Rajyotsava on November 1st, it did remember to “gift” the people of Karnataka an increase of Rs. 10 on commercial LPG cylinders. We all know that we have been facing “gifts” after “gifts” on the price of Commercial Cylinder since the start of West-Asia Conflict. Nonetheless, this 10 Rupees raise is no small amount when given on the Rajyotsava day.
Restaurants had price of only commercial cylinders to worry about a few months ago. Now, their source of worries have been diversified by adding the prices of Rice and Milk to the list. Now, they are not stressed about on one input cost because they are juggling multiple input costs at the same time like a circus artist thereby celebrating the art.
Happy Kannada Rajyotsava! – brought to you by price hikes of Milk, Rice and Commercial Cylinders.
