A CRIMINOLOGIST’S DIARY-7

A hike in patrol price

No one has so far researched into for finding out the relationship between patrol and crime. Though the quest for identifying the causes of crime has travelled a long way from demonology and innate depravity to victimology, no researcher has ever said anything about the effect of patrol hike in price on crime and delinquency. Just in front of our apartment at Bentonville, there is a patrol bunk (gas station as it is called here) from where we used to fill our car. It is a gas station of the Shell petroleum company and the people here believe that the patrol from that station is really fine. O.K., the price of the patrol for a gallon (5 liters) is about $ 3 here. The price for a liter of patrol in Kerala, as I understand from the media, is more than Rs.62/- or so. If we convert the US dollar to Indian rupees, we may get an amount slightly less than Rs.45?-.Hence, when the cost of patrol is calculated, the price for one liter of patrol in USA comes to be slightly more than Rs.26/-whereas it costs more than Rs.62/- in Kerala. Are we so rich to spend more than double the cost for an essential item like patrol? I do not know the economics of this hike in price of patrol in Kerala ,India, nevertheless I know that it is potent cause for the-

(1) Autoriksha, taxi-car owners to declare a strike for a rise in taxi charges.

(2) Private bus owners to go for a strike for a reasonable hike in bus charges.

(3) Truck and lorry owners to spend more for transporting everything from salt to camphor.

(4) Owners of own vehicles to give more money to fill patrol for their private use.

Besides, agitations, demonstrations, stilling the Parliament ,boycotting of Legislatures, price rise in essential items, market fluctuations to the worse, collapsing of family budgets and thus a variety of undesirable situations arise resulting in heavy loss of money and emergence of more and more crimes in various forms and descriptions. Patrol may be the cause of war,genocide destruction of huge property in future and I have no doubt that it can be a strong and powerful cause of environmental pollutions, political agitations, economic offences, price hike and market fluctuations/collapse etc. Certainly, criminologist must devote their time and manpower to study the cause-effect relationship between patrol and crimes. A fight against the price rise in patrol will be a fight against the emerging new crimes in Kerala. Or ,is there anyone who can explain to me the rationale behind this un-understandable price rise in patrol. When 5 cents is increased for 5 liters of patrol, more than Rs 10/- is increased in the State of Kerala. Whether it is the Central Tax, State Tax, Sale Tax, Municipal Tax, City tax or whatever-whether it is the Central Government, State Government or the petroleum companies or international price rise or whatever-whether it is the petroleum dealers, businessmen, politicians, bureaucrats or whoever may be responsible for the price hike in patrol, I may like very much to get an answer to my question:”Are we so rich to spend so much money or more money than the people in US for patrol? India shines, KERALA shines and criminals shine everywhere!