Oil prices

I refer to the editorial “Nudge Pricing”(October 16). It is an odd practice to fix selling price of a material taking into account factors other than cost of the raw material, cost of manufacture and other relevant factors.

The pricing of the petroleum products such as petrol and diesel appears to include factors other than those relevant to the issue. One important fact is that the crude price does not appear to be relevant in fixing the product prices, since the price of crude has fallen by more than half since when the UPA II was in power but there is no corresponding fall in the product prices.

TR Anandan

Coimbatore

Although it is claimed that the price of petrol and diesel is not administered by the government and left to the discretion of oil marketing companies, the formula adopted ensures the same price charged by all OMCs. When manufacturing and distribution costs are different for OMCs, how is there uniformity in the price of the product? This is nothing but cartelisation.

Why is the Competition Commission of India is silent on this? Or will CCI act only in the case of non-government companies? The price should be based on the cost of production plus distribution and with a uniform rate of tax under GST throughout the country.

S Kalyanasundaram

Email

Good gesture

It was a good gesture on the part of Manmohan singh to have made a statement on the eve of release of Pranab Mukherjee’s book, The Coalition Years, that Mukherjee was better qualified than him for the post of Prime Minister. That speaks of his magnanimity.

Srinivasan Umashankar

Nagpur

Congress win

The Congress victory over the BJP by a whopping margin of 1,93,219 votes in the Gurdaspur Lok Sabha bypoll in Punjab should give the party a lot to cheer about.

There was more joy for the ‘Grand old party’ as the Congress-led UDF opposition in Kerala emerged victorious in the Vengara Assembly byelection after its candidate KNA Khader of the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) triumphed by 23,310 votes.

The twin victories coming close on the heels of the spectacular success registered by the Congress in the Nanded municipal polls in Maharashtra makes one believe that things are starting to look up for the party and this should put it in the right frame of mind to battle the BJP in the soon-to-come Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh Assembly elections.

NJ Ravi Chander

Bengaluru

Over-confident BJP should sit up and take note of its defeat in the Gurdaspur and Vengara by-polls. That the Congress has won Gurdaspur with a massive margin of 1,93,219 suggests that the BJP is gradually losing its popularity. The reason is not far to seek. Demonetisation and GST have affected larger sections of the society. The Congress can consolidate its party position. It can win the hearts of the electorate only if it gets rid of the “corruption tag”.

S Ramakrishnasayee

Ranipet

Global hunger

That India continues to have a abysmal standing in the Global Hunger Index is a strong indictment of the failure of successive governments since Independence.

The fact that its ranking has slipped three positions from last year and it was tied with impoverished Djibouti and war ravaged Rwanda for the 100th rank among 119 nation is a matter of grave concern.

M Jeyaram Sholavandan

Tamilnadu

Let’s have NEET

Dravidian parties in Tamil Nadu are voicing their protest over rights of the State(From the Viewsroom, “Us and them”, October 16). This smacks of double standards. These parties toe the line of the Centre when they are part of the government.

While even economically and socially backward States have opted for NEET, there is no justification for opposing the examination here.

V Subramanian

Sholinganallur, Chennai

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Send your letters by email to bleditor@thehindu.co.in or by post to ‘Letters to the Editor’, The Hindu Business Line, Kasturi Buildings, 859-860, Anna Salai, Chennai 600002.