A few weeks ago Cathedralite 69er Prakash Thadani sent me an email in which he requested everyone to observe a "No Petrol Day" on 22nd May 2007 as a protest against the price in India in comparison to neighbouring countries:
Petrol Prices
Pakistan Rs 17 per litre
Malaysia Rs 18 per litre
India Rs. 48 per litre
Prakash was a bit surprised to learn the price in Finland € 1.370 per litre which works out at over Rs. 75 per litre.
Over 70% 0f the price of petrol in Europe is taxes collected by the Government.
These taxes are used for several purposes, including maintaining the roads, plus other environmentally sound policies. The Oil Companies do make substantial profits, but not to the extent as in the USA.
I have been boycotting several multinationals including several oil companies for many years. But the reason has not been just price gouging but more important issues as the illegal invasion and occupation of Iraq, the ignoring of reality by denying that Climate Change was due to burning of fossil fuels, etc.
This year I have started using a petrol scooter which consumes considerably less petrol than our car. I get 50 km per litre as against 7 km per litre in our car.
Only when Annikki has to go out or when I have to use the trailer or take Mika for his Physiotherapy, do I use the car.
I have saved a considerable amount of money. The more important reason is that using a scooter in Oulu has considerably extended my flexibility and saved me a lot of time!
I would love to get the Electric Scooter, given to me by Anil Anathakrishnan, working again. Anil is the brilliant electric vehicle designer from Bangalore. I am sure that I will do so, again, probably this summer.
Anil launched the Electric Scooter in India.I understand it was priced too high to have made an impact.
That was certainly not Anil's decision. He was of the opinion that anyone wanting to buy one of his electric scooters should be able to draw the required money from an ATM!
In this neck of the woods the cheapest petrol is 1.32Euros. And we don't get cheap petrol where we live. We pay something like 1.40Euros a litre. Consider yourselves blessed. Wouldn't risk our safety here with a scooter or a cycle. Roads far too narrow and cars too fast. That's Lincolnshire, UK, today on 31st May 2007.
ReplyDelete