Just couple of hours back, the veteran chief minister of Kerala who assumed office Wednesday, has announced a sales tax cut on the recently hiked petrol price. This tax waive would bring the price down by Rs.1.22 per litre. Along with thanking the great effort of the chief minister, we should think and understand the real culprit behind high fuel price in India.
We have been undergoing many strikes and Harthals due to the oil price hike and our LDF government were fueling all these harthals even when they were in power. LDF government had no commitment to the people of kerala rather they exploited the situation by protesting against the UDF government. The failure of the recent protest by Left and BJP have shown that the people of kerala have started taking the LDF approach for granted as they do just protest but not a single step to rectify it. How true the proverb “barking dog seldom bites” is.
To a logical mind, it seems obvious that if the international crude oil prices are rising, there is no way we can escape the brunt of it. Kerala being a literate state, I hope everybody understands this. But if you look at the boycotts and strikes we had in the past, you get a feeling that the left has been deliberately putting the lay man to strike against the hike. The media has been incessantly reporting the government is inefficient and useless to control the rise or say the pathetic story about the amount of money that Indian Oil Marketing Companies lost. But the problem lies in us, that we fail to ask the government how much petrol really costs.
Let us see how much really petrol costs, now the international crude oil prices are hovering around Rs 5400 ($120) per barrel. One barrel= 158.76 litre, therefore one litre crude oil cost about Rs 34 per litre. Being a Chemical Engineer I can tell you that the refining cost to make petrol/diesel from the crude is about Rs. 0.60 per litre. In addition to the above cost there will be a refinery capital cost, transportation cost and dealer’s commission, this will come around Rs.13. So adding all that, the petrol price comes around Rs. 47.6. But we are paying Rs.67 per litre, about Rs.20 we are paying in the name of central and states tax. So ultimately I’m trying to tell you that the government can think about cutting sales tax in time of escalating fuel price else we may have to try to resolve the Libyan issues or Kuwait issues or Iraq issues. If you look into the tax structures and fuel prices of some of North American countries (Brazil, Mexico, Canada etc), you see that prices are far lower than that in the most other developed countries.
The step taken Chandy government is really appreciable one as there is a fair chance that there could be another hike in petrol prices soon.
We have been undergoing many strikes and Harthals due to the oil price hike and our LDF government were fueling all these harthals even when they were in power. LDF government had no commitment to the people of kerala rather they exploited the situation by protesting against the UDF government. The failure of the recent protest by Left and BJP have shown that the people of kerala have started taking the LDF approach for granted as they do just protest but not a single step to rectify it. How true the proverb “barking dog seldom bites” is.
To a logical mind, it seems obvious that if the international crude oil prices are rising, there is no way we can escape the brunt of it. Kerala being a literate state, I hope everybody understands this. But if you look at the boycotts and strikes we had in the past, you get a feeling that the left has been deliberately putting the lay man to strike against the hike. The media has been incessantly reporting the government is inefficient and useless to control the rise or say the pathetic story about the amount of money that Indian Oil Marketing Companies lost. But the problem lies in us, that we fail to ask the government how much petrol really costs.
Let us see how much really petrol costs, now the international crude oil prices are hovering around Rs 5400 ($120) per barrel. One barrel= 158.76 litre, therefore one litre crude oil cost about Rs 34 per litre. Being a Chemical Engineer I can tell you that the refining cost to make petrol/diesel from the crude is about Rs. 0.60 per litre. In addition to the above cost there will be a refinery capital cost, transportation cost and dealer’s commission, this will come around Rs.13. So adding all that, the petrol price comes around Rs. 47.6. But we are paying Rs.67 per litre, about Rs.20 we are paying in the name of central and states tax. So ultimately I’m trying to tell you that the government can think about cutting sales tax in time of escalating fuel price else we may have to try to resolve the Libyan issues or Kuwait issues or Iraq issues. If you look into the tax structures and fuel prices of some of North American countries (Brazil, Mexico, Canada etc), you see that prices are far lower than that in the most other developed countries.
The step taken Chandy government is really appreciable one as there is a fair chance that there could be another hike in petrol prices soon.
