Sugar-Flourishing on a Narrower Base

November 4, 1972 IN the midst of all the talk of restraining luxury consumption the government has without batting an eyelid accepted the hotel-owners' argument that the 33.33 per cent surcharge which was proposed to be levied on the hotel bills of Indians staying in the posher hotels would restrict this particular form of luxury consumption and on that ground decided to put off enforcement of the surcharge. The decision has underscored once again the government's unwillingness to curb the life styles of the country's U-sector irrespective of what Indira Gandhi, D P Dhar, C Subramaniam and the rest of them may say. At the same time, the consternation caused by the still-born surcharge proposal has also exposed the extent to which, contrary to popular mythology, the five and four star hotels depend on the natives' custom.