20 special flights from Saudi to India announced; 3 and a half to Bengaluru; Sorry Mangaluru

With the steep hike in excise duty in the past couple of months, an average consumer of petrol now pays over 275% in taxes to centre and states on a litre of the fuel.  The base price of petrol is just about Rs 18. The taxes are close to Rs 50 and the pump price is over Rs 72.

India imports 85% of all its crude oil demand.  After a steep hike in excise duty in the past two months despite a hold on daily price revisions by the oil public sector undertakings (PSUs), Indian consumers now pay 275% collectively in excise duty to state and centre. 

The central government hiked excise on petrol and diesel by Rs 10 and Rs 13 respectively last month. The excise duty on petrol is taxed around Rs 33-a-litre while the same on diesel it is Rs 32.

The Value-Added Tax (VAT) on both petrol and diesel is Rs 16.44 and Rs 16.26 respectively. Both the taxes together are around Rs 49 while it is sold at petrol pumps at 73-per-litre.

These two taxes cumulatively account for 69% of tax which is higher than anywhere else in the world. The same is taxed at 19% in the US, 47% in Japan, UK 62% and 63% in France. The government does not pass on the benefit of lower crude oil prices to the customer.

It is to be noted that Indian consumers continued to pay Rs 70-a-litre even when crude oil prices hit a paltry US $ 20-a-barrel on April 12.

Former finance minister and Congress leader recently took a jab at the Centre over rising prices stating, “Fuel selling prices raised twice in two days, following tax hikes two weeks ago. This time to benefit oil companies. Government is poor, it needs more taxes. Oil companies are poor, they need better prices. Only the poor and middle class are not poor, so they will pay”.

Mangaluru, Jun 3: Cyclone Nisarga did not land in Karnataka and has passed its border with heavy rains and strong winds, said an official on Wednesday.

However rains continued to lash parts of coastal Karnataka. There was no report of any casualty, the official added.

"It has already passed. We have not got any reports of fatalities. A heavy rain was expected and the deputy commissioners were alerted. Fishermen too were warned," said Karnataka State Disaster Management Authority (KSDMA) Principal Secretary T K Anil Kumar.

Kumar said Nisarga's actual landing is in Maharashtra and the warning was given for that state and Gujarat.

"In the fringe proportion (of Karnataka), high winds were expected and fishermen were warned not to venture into the sea," he said.

Kumar said the department interacted with the deputy commissioners of Belagavi, Uttara Kannada, Udupi, Dakshina Kannada, Chikkamagaluru and Shivamogga and alerted them about heavy rains.

Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre Director Srinivas Reddy said the department has kept four National Disaster Relief Force (NDRF) teams on standby in Mangaluru and Kodagu for any eventuality.

The teams have been mobilized from Guntur in Andhra Pradesh.

"More rain is predicted in coastal districts. Wind speed too will be more in coastal areas," said Reddy.

According to a Met Department official, the track of Nisarga is expected to be 200-400km off Karnataka coast.

"Sudden wind speed had been reported along the coast. We had issued port warnings," said the official.

Bengaluru, Jul 5: Archbishop Emeritus of Bangalore Bernard Moras has been diagnosed with mild symptoms of Covid-19 and his condition now is said to be stable.

"Most Reverend Bernard Moras, Archbishop Emeritus of Bangalore, had gone to St. John's Medical College for a routine check-up on July 2 as he was not well. Yesterday (July 3), it was confirmed that he has mild symptoms of Covid-19 and the doctors have stated that his condition at present is stable," Archbishop of Bangalore Peter Machado said in a message.

"We assure our beloved Archbishop Emeritus of the prayers of all the faithful in the Archdiocese and wish him a speedy recovery, he said.

The Archbishop Emeritus is aged about 78.