Inflation: Meaning and its causes

Inflation

Inflation is a sustained rise in the price of various commodities in an economy. Inflation is calculated by comparing the price levels of a representative sample of commodities (since , it would be too cumbersome and time consuming to take into account all commodities sold in the market) in the current year to the prices during the same period in the last year.

For example , if the price of a commodity X, which was available at Rs. 10 in the first week of 2011 , is Rs. 11 in the first week of 2012 , then the prices have risen by (Rs.11-Rs.10)=Rs.1 or (Rs. 1*100/Rs. 10)= 10%. Here , price figures which are taken into account may be either the wholesale prices (the price at which the commodities are sold by the wholesaler) or the retail prices (the price at which the commodities are sold by the retailer to the end -customers. i.e.,  prices at which we buy the various commodities) - Inflation figures so arrived at may be described as based on the Wholesale Price Index (WPI)  in the former case and Consumer Price Index (CPI) in the latter. Experts opine that CPI based inflation is nearer to ground reality as it reflects the actual impact of price rise on the general public. However, in India, inflation figures are based on WPI. Incidentally, we are migrating to the CPI based regime but this process would take around 2 or more years.

Causes of Inflation : 

High Demand

If the demand for a commodity is much above than the supply, the price of the commodity would rise. It so happened in 2010 that a slump in sugarcane production led to decreased production of refined sugar causing its prices to rise in the open market . Inflation in this case is due to high demand and hence called demand led inflation 

Supply led Inflation

The recent rise in rubber, iron and steel prices have led to an increase in the production cost of automobiles with the consequence that their prices have been hiked by the manufactures. The inflation caused by such a price rise, which was necessitated not because of an increase in demand but rather a rise in the input costs, is called supply led inflation

Black Marketing 

When a particular type of commodity has stocked by a retailer or a wholesaler and sell in the time of scarcity of the commodity then it increase the prices not only of that commodity but also those which manufactured by the stocked commodity. For example if sugar is stocked by the wholesalers this create the scarcity of the sugar in the market and when demand of sugar reach on peak then it releases on the high prices, the prices  of sweets will also go high. 

Increased Purchasing Capacity of Consumer

This kind of inflation is difficult to explain but somehow it may try. If some where a retailer increased the price of commodity for its own profit and more than 50% consumers of the city do not object of this price hike this means the 50% consumers have the capacity to purchase that commodity and this will led the inflation. 

Interest Rate on loan given to the manufacturer by the banks

When the rate of interest is increased on the corporate loan the input cost of the manufactured commodity will increased so the cost of finished goods in the market will increased.

Interest Rate on savings 

When the interest rates on the savings decreases the common man do not want to put their money into the banks and so the money will automatically flow towards the market and this will contribute to the inflation. In past few years a heavy amount of money outflows from the banks due to decreased saving interest rates. Now to control this outflow RBI is giving guidelines to the banks for more saving investment in the banks. 

International fuel prices 

The country like India is highly dependent on the import of crude oil. It imports more than 70% crude oil  from the countries like Iran , and other Arab countries. This crude oil is refined and  than converted into petroleum products like petrol, diesel, cooking gas, CNG, Kerosene oil, and many more. These fuels are running our houses as well as our transportation system. So, if the price of crude oil fluctuates in International market then in that consequence the price of all commodities will get affected.

Foreign Exchange rate 

Recently we saw the value of Rupee has depreciated to a new record value in  June 2012 which was more than Rs.57 against US Dollar. The price of a Dollar in ( Data source: Monthly Economic Report, Ministry of Finance, Govt. of India. )

• March 2009 was Rs. 51.22
• March 2010 was Rs. 45.49
• March 2011 was Rs. 44.96
• March 2012 was Rs. 50.32
• April 2012 was   Rs. 51.81
• May 2012 was Rs. 54.47

This fluctuation in the price of rupee against dollar contribute highly to inflation. First we are not independent of the crude oil generation so we purchase the crude oil from other countries. To make this deal we have to pay the dollar for an international deal and to purchase dollar we have pay more amount in Rupees if the price of  a dollar is high. Interest rate on loan taken from other countries and IMF will become more costly. It simply means the import becomes costly and  interest paid on the debt taken contribute to inflation.

At  the end the list of causes not limited here. Many other causes are also contributing to inflation. But we, at least understand the concept of inflation and the impact on our life, so that any means, if possible we can somehow save ourselves from the impact of Inflation.

Regards
Narender Sharma

Does love depends on physical beauty?

Love does not depends upon the distance or nearness. We may be in love if we are distant apart  from some one, we may not be in love even living together with someone. We may be in love with some one who is not admitted as beautiful and smart on the other hand we may not be in love who admitted as beautiful and smart and good looking. Love may exist between those who have a big age gap like grandfather and grandson, Love may not exist between those, who are  almost same age group. Love may be exist in a relation of those who never physically intimated, but Love may not exist in a relation even physical intimacy happened several times. e.g. A person who is  going to a prostitute never feel anything close to his heart. This seems Love may  be anywhere or nowhere. But does love has any dependency on physical beauty? Before discussing this let's try to understand the physical beauty.

What is the physical beauty? 
When we are talking about the beauty about a human being then it is not a critical matter because Human in itself is a most beautiful creature on the earth. Then to raise the point of beauty about a human being is a stupidity. Beauty always lies in the eyes of beholder. If love is the matter of beauty then why many people feel alone even without their pets. Small children are very much fond of pets even they are not human being.

Now all you may have question, what is physical beauty? I will try to answer this, A human being has different body parts which have different kind of work assigned by the body to them like Eyes have the responsibility of seeing, Nose has to smell the things, Tongue has tell about taste, Hands have  carrying responsibility, Legs move our body , Abdomen  digest food, Heart is pumping our blood in our body, Mind the headquarter of our body has Interpretation and analytic work responsibility. When all body parts got from the nature are already well adjusted with each other and get proper maintenance then automatically a physical body looks beautiful. A most important factor of beauty is the smile on the face. It not only makes us beautiful but it also makes us acceptable anywhere. For example, If two person sitting together, one has smile on its face and other one is sitting with down face and you have to ask solution for your problem to one of them , I am sure you will be heading towards the smiling face because a person who already in a problem , How can he/she solve your problem?
So the physical beauty is defined by Healthy body and smiling face. But it will not guarantee about a long term relationship with some one.This only be happen by the beauty of nature of a human being, which includes the caring, regular communication, understanding, humanity, honesty, ability of accept other.

Form the above discussion love depends upon the physical beauty but its life depends upon the beauty of nature of a person. As the compatibility of the thought grow the intensity and the life of love will grow. But its true to make lovable and acceptable by most one should be careful about his/her physical beauty. It give  chance to someone come close you.

Hence be Healthy, Good looking and most important smile always to attract someone towards yourself.  

Crime Report 2011 from NCRB

National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB) releases its data of crime happen in India for the year 2011. The report made public on Saturday , June 30, 2012 and shows alarming situation of crime in India. Highlights of this reports given below

• The report shows crimes under IPC has registered a 2.5% rise in 2011 over previous year; while crimes under special and local laws -such as Arms Act and Gambling Act - have declined by 7.4%.
• Total number of crimes reported in India in 2011 are 62.5 lakh.
• 1442 people died due to accidents and suicides every day. In which every day suicide cases were 372.
• Two third of women committed suicide were housewives.
• 452 people died and 1298 were injured in rail and road accidents daily.
• Number of murders has increased by 250% , rape by 873% and kidnapping and abduction by 749% since 1953.
• Burglary and breakins have shown a declining trend in 59 years.
• All other crimes have been steadily climbing since 1953.
• Delhi is most violent city, confirming the assumption. New Delhi accounted for almost 10% of crimes reported from India's 53 mega cities that have over a population of 10 lakh each.
• Delhi topped among mega cities in cognizable crimes.
• West Bengal is most cruel toward women. The state has maximum number of crimes against women
• MP is India's rape capital. MP has reported highest number of rape cases (3406) , accounting for 14.1% of the total such cases in the country last year.
• The report finds that in 94% of the rape cases , the offenders were known to the victims and 10.6% rape victims were under 14 years, while 19% were teenagers. 
• Kerala has the highest rate of violent crimes.
• UP accounts for 33.4% of total crimes in India i.e every third crime from UP
• India's 53 cities have been seeing spurt in criminal activity and are more violent than the states in which they are located .
• Delhi , Kanpur , Mumbai  and Bengaluru accounted for 9.9% , 7.3%, 6.7% and 6.3% of criminal activities, respectively. 
• Asansol in Bengal jas reported significant increase of 83.7% of IPC crimes as compared to 2010.
• Statistics show crime against women has been steadily rising.
• The criminal incidents against women were reported 2.28 lakh in 2011 as compared to 2.13 lakh in previous year.
• Bengal , with 7.5% of India's population, has accounted for 12.7% of the total crime against women and reported 29,133 cases.
• Andhra Pradesh accounting for nearly 7% of the population of the country recorded 12.4% of the total crimes against women in India.
• There has been a substantial rise in custodial deaths. It was 104 in 2011 against only 70 in 2010. 
• In front of cyber criminal activities, these activities have doubled in India in the past one year. 1791 cases of  such crimes were registered in 2011 as compared to 966 such crimes in 2010.

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Ref: Times of India, Dated : July 1, 2012, Sunday