On a day of taking tough decisions, the Government took the most difficult of all: Raise diesel prices by Rs 5 a litre (excluding VAT). The late-evening move also capped the number of subsidised LPG cylinder a household can get at six per year.
Earlier in the day, the Government de-allocated four coal blocks.
Diesel will now cost approximately Rs 47 a litre in Delhi. The price revision comes after more than a year.
However, PDS kerosene was left untouched.
While not tampering with the retail price of petrol, the Government decided to reduce the excise duty on the fuel by Rs 5.30 a litre from Rs 14.35 (plus education cess of 3 per cent making it 14.78 per cent). But this benefit is not being passed on to the consumer.
An official statement said the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs’s (CCPA) decision would be implemented with effect from midnight of September 13/14. The revised diesel price in Delhi will be approximately Rs 47 a litre.
Not wanting to be labelled the bad messenger, Petroleum Minister S Jaipal Reddy tactfully passed on the decision making to the CCPA. But Jaipal Reddy has been maintaining that difficult decisions have to be taken.
The CCPA, under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, took stock of the situation arising out of projected under-recoveries of Rs 1,87,127 crore for current fiscal for the public sector oil retailers in the wake of high international crude oil prices and the sharp depreciation of the rupee against the dollar.
The statement said out of this Rs 5 a litre (excluding VAT) hike in diesel, Rs 1.50 is on account of the hike in excise duty. The balance Rs 3.50 a litre will go to reduce the under-recoveries of the oil companies by about Rs 15,000 crore for the remaining part of the financial year. The under-recovery on sale of diesel during 2012-13, even after this price hike, is estimated to exceed Rs 1,03,000 crore. Further, branded diesel will be sold at market rate.
Cooking Gas
The CCPA also decided to restrict the supply of subsidised LPG cylinders to six for each household annually. According to the statement, this will help in reducing the under-recovery by about Rs 5,300 crore for the remaining part of the financial year. During the fiscal, even after this measure, the companies are estimated to lose above Rs 32,000 crore on domestic LPG.
The number of subsidised LPG cylinders available to each consumer in the remaining part of the current financial year will be three. While subsidised cylinders will continue to be available at Rs 399 a unit (in Delhi), the market rate will be notified by the oil companies every month.
Keywords: diesel price hike, Cap on subsidised LPG to households, petrol, kerosene price, LPG rates, Diesel in Delhi, value-added tax, VAT, excise duty on petrol, subsidised cooking gas to six cylinders per household annually
Comments:
I think, this is the good and mid way to remove entire subsidy on LPG cylinders.
Appreciate the govt move. Most poor people wont use more than six cylinders in a year. Even middle class uses maximum of 8 - 10 cylinders a year. So it's ok that the subsidy has been removed. Also the hike of Rs.5 to remove subsidy is a good move. This will remove the unwanted subsidy given to car and SUV owners who get diesel at subsidized price. I suggest the subsidy be completely removed and let there be competition so that electric vehicles and induction stoves can take the main stage. Electricity to run the nation rather than oil. Energy independence.
The recent LPG limited to 6 per year decision taken by CCPA is very difficult to manage for common man whereas in most of rural areas the family members are more and consumption will also be high.
The recent CAG and 2G scams have swallowed thousands of crore rupees and this directly hit to common man in this way.
Are we BAKRAS ??????? to accept their decision or do we need to protest ?
DECIDE and do not forget that it is your birth right to POLL or FOUL
Let us be fair!
There are lot of problem with the cooked food. The Government is encouraging to eat raw food, instead of cooked one, at least now and then to maintain our health. So, what is wrong? Remember in the good olden days, we used to cook on Chulhas, and other conventional cooking process, where the wooden logs are used for cooking. IT used to be much tastier, than the present cooking style on the gas stoves. Moreover, you need to collect the firewood, you need to walk, so, you will get a good walking habit on regular basis, and that makes you more healthy. Soon, the Employers left if any, will give you Specail Leaves for FIREWOOD COLLECTION, FLs, in addition to the existing CL, EL and MLs. And the Ministry of E&F would collect a cess from everyone (Firewood Cess)because it reduces the Forest covers. I do not know how Sunita Narayan would react because, she may calculate the loss of WOOD per person,and may suggest the FM to rely upn the figures of per capita Wood Consumption!
But on the contrary, the Doctors and the Pharma industry would go on indeenite strike, as theie business is severely affected due to eating healthy food. So, they will try to lobby against the price hike or LPG usage reduction and encourage their patients to eat food cooked only on the GAS STOVES.And all Gas suppliers and STOVE dealers would give freee offers to the Doctors who recommend cooking on LPG Gas. The trouble would become gastronomic and all doctors would start prescribing what ever the pharma companies would produce....
1.should not rollback diesel
2. LPG cap would be ok only if size of family is also considered...
should not break joint family system..which is economical and promotes
shared use of resources..TV,Fridge,common living area,furniture etc
saving power,reducing pressure on rentals,increased savings etc..good
for country
This is a necessary move from the government. The people protesting
against this price rice need to understand that India's rising fiscal
deficit is raising our national debt to dangerous levels. Subsidized
fuel doesn't help matters. In a way, we forcing the government to
subsidize our fuel consumption is actually forcing our children to bear
the costs of our current consumption. Do we really want a huge
unbearable debt forced on our children? Carbon fuels like Diesel and LPG
are not unlimited, they are scare and therefore by the laws of supply
and demand the prices are high in the international market. We are
forcing the government to charge us less and pass on the rest of the
price to our children, which is not fair to our future generations. We
need to pay our fair share, and this price hike is a step in the right
direction.
Mr.Mithun,
Tell this to the babus(MPs,MLAs, IAS, IPS.....so on).
543MPs, more than 5000MLAs, and more than 25000 Other cadres are enjoying the benefits.Apart from this, all PSU employees too enjoy the benefits.If you say getting a subsidized item is crime, let it happen across all sectors. Even the entire Services are getting everything at a subsidy.Liqour my friend is at subsidy at Canteens across India, which is available to my Military friends... If you keep on questionaning every aspect of the SUBSIDY, you financial wizardry would come to know why our fiscal deficit is increasing day by day. Please ignore the message if you still care for a better future for our children.
The future is always a pleasant one. It is we who make the present worse, either by brooding over the past or living in future.Let us think about our future!
In continuation to my earlier mail,
Look at the banking industry alone. The banks which offer you the loan at 10.5%, would offer the same at a much lower, at 5.5% rate of interest to thier employees.
You can keep on adding the subsidies like this, you will understand what situation we are in.
Please Email the Editor