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Once again inflation is showing an increase and this time it surges to seven year high at 8.75% for the week ended on May 31 as compared to 8.24 % of previous week.

The costlier food and vegetables accounted for 0.51 percent increase in inflation from the preceding week leading fears to cross 9 percent after rise in fuel prices earlier this month.

The Wholesale Price Index (WPI) rose up by 0.6 percent touching 231.1 compared to 229.8 the last time. The WPI for manufactured products was up 0.7 percent whereas that for primary articles it was up by 0.9 percent.

Prices of foods and vegetables, cereals, milk, spices and some manufactured products are increased along with mustard oil and groundnut oil also. Despite, several government measures to contain cement rates, prices marginally increased.

Several measures are taken into account to reverse the inflation, including RBI’s raise of short-term lending rates to banks by 25 basis points on Wednesday but inflation is reaching new records every time.

It was 8.24% the week ending May 24 and 8.1% for the week ending May 17. The inflation was 7.82% for the week ended May 10 as compared to 7.83% for the previous week, said the official figures released today indicating a steady rise in prices from the past several weeks.

During the corresponding week a year ago, the inflation stood at 5.62 percent. Wholesale prices-based inflation stood at 5.15 percent a year ago.

Tags: India, Inflation, inflation rate, Price hike, Rising Price

After an increase of Rs 50 in LPG gas cylinders by the government on Wednesday, a sales tax cut of Rs 40 on the same is introduced by the Delhi government  to relief the citizens. In this way the Delhi people got the net price hike to Rs 10 only.

“The increase in LPG rate will be of Rs ten instead of Rs 50 in Delhi. The domestic cylinder which is priced at Rs 294.70 paise will now be costing rs 304.70 paise and not Rs 340.30 paise,” Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit told reporters here.

The move is in wake to relief the middle class people who are already burdened with increasing rate of inflation. The decision came after the cabinet meeting where it was decided to cut down the vat from existing 4 per cent to zero, while providing a subsidy of around Rs 26 per cylinder.

The subsidy would have a burden of Rs 165 crore on the state exchequer.

“There would be no rise in the fare of the Metro and the DTC buses, which run on electricity and CNG respectively.” she said while speaking at a press conference.

Sales tax cut is demanded by Congress president Sonia Gandhi and BJP since the increase in petroleum rates.

Tags: Delhi, DTC, Gas, LPG, Petrol, Price hike

Last day Indian Government has increased the price of LPG cylinders along with a hike in petrol and diesel too. Later on PM MM Singh addressed the country and give an advice to save the energy for our next generation.

It is the need of the time, that we should save the consumption of LPG, short name of Liquid Petroleum Gas, so that we can be able to get rid of this price hike. Especially house wifes from India are more worried about there budget, so please consider doing these 10 things to avoid the price hike affect your life style.

1> Prepare Yourself before Cooking: Prepare all the material and raw items before going to burn the LPG. This will save your time while cooking.

2> Use Pressure Cooker: Try to use Pressure Cooker, this will consume less time and energy.

3> Use Covered Vessel: Try to cover each vessel while cooking, this way your food item will prepare earlier compared to the open vessel.

4> Avoid Attending Phone Calls while Cooking: Avoid long chat on the phone calls during you were cooking. This way you can concentrate more on cooking rather than wasting your LPG.

5> Use Proper Vessels for Burners: Use proper size vessels for each burner. This means that use small vessel in small burner.

6> Try to put burner in slow mode: Once the vessel equipped with complete heat, it does not require the same amount of heat. So you can make the burner at lowest position once the vessel is completely heated.

7> Don’t Waste LPG: See whether your burner fuel is going out from the vessel, it is wasting your precious LPG. Turn burner so that flame will cover the vessel only.

8> Avoid Re-heating the Food: Re-heating the food will decrease the quality of the food too and waste your LPG too. So avoid doing this.

9> Use Sufficient water in Food: Don’t put so much water in the food, since consuming that water will take more time and energy.

10> The last but the least is always remember to switch off the regulator every time after you finished the cooking. This is very much required from the safety point of view too.

So I think these 10 steps can help us to reduce the cost of the LPG in our daily life.

Tags: LPG, LPG Cylinders, Price hike, Save Gas

In protest of the hike in petroleum prices, The CPI (M) has called for a 12-hour bandh in Left ruled states of West Bengal, Kerala and Tripura on Thursday.

Although there is nation wide protest against the decision as people are not happy with the significant hike of Rs 5 in petrol prices and Rs 3 in Deisel along with Rs 50 in LPG. The CPI on its part has announced a total shutdown in Kolkata.

West Bengal is highly affected by the bandh especially Kolkata. In Kolkata shops, markets and educational institutions remained closed. City streets were silent amid bandh. Train and air services were also affected. Bandh supporters squatted on railway tracks in different parts of the state, Kanojia said.

Various airlines suspended their operations of outgoing flights from Kolkata during the 12-hour bandh period. Kingfisher Airlines have announced the cancellation of eight flights. They rescheduled eight flights.

However trains and vehicles are running in Kerala as usual in spite of the bandh.

Left parties called the hike “suicidal”. The bandh will be preceded by a state-wide protest and rallies this evening. Mr Bose said that he had discussed with the leaders of the Left Front constituents before arriving at a decision in this regard. Terming the price hike “anti-people”, he said it would further increase prices of essential commodities and push the inflation to 10 per cent as it would have a cascading effect raising the transportation cost.

There will be similar strikes in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu later this week.

The hike in petroleum prices were decided in wake of increasing price of fuel in international market touching the heights of $130 per barrel. Prime Minister appealed to the nation yesterday after the announcement to take the decision calmly as the hike is inevitable.

Fuel price hike gave a jolt to common man who is already fighting with increasing inflation. Whatever be the political and economical reasons behind the hike but common mans problems are definitely increased and their life get tougher.

Tags: Bandh, Kerela, Kolkata, Left Parties, Price hike, Strike, Tripura

The government finally announced on Wednesday a significant hike of Rs 5 in petrol prices and Rs 3 in diesel price to decrease the pressure on the oil companies facing losses for a long time due to increase in international fuel rate which have touched levels as high as USD 135 per barrel. LPG gas cylinder rates are also gone up by Rs 50. There is no hike in Kerosene prices.

The huge subsidy loss faced by the public sector oil companies has led the government to impose the hike. State-run Indian Oil Corporation, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum were together projected to lose Rs 2,46,600 crore on sale of petrol, diesel, domestic LPG and PDS kerosene in 2008-09 in absence of any price hike or duty cuts. Earlier in the day, the Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs had approved the hike in fuel prices.

Petroleum Minister Murli Deora has also proposed double price for extra cooking gas cylinders. He has also proposed a new distribution scheme for LPG cylinders. Only 8 cylinders will be allowed at the current rates. All extra cylinders will cost twice the amount.

After 10 days of debate over the price increase, the cabinet also agreed to cut the import duty on crude oil to support refining and retailing firms like Indian Oil Corp, Bharat Petroleum Corp and Hindustan Petroleum Corp.

It is the second hike in the fuel rates in this year. On February 14, 2008 the price of petrol were hiked by Rs 2 and that of diesel by Re 1 a litre.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has already warned on Monday that government is not in a position to fully insulate the consumer from the impact of rising oil prices. He will address the nation at 8:30 pm on Wednesday night to explain the reason for the hike in fuel prices.

People are very upset with the announcement. They are protesting the hike. Public came out at roads and shouts slogan against the decision.

Opposition parties which are already protesting the hike are also protesting the decision. Unhappy at the hike, Left has said the decision as ‘Suicidal Move’. CPI announced a bandh in Kolkata against the hike.

Price of Petrol, currently 45.52 a litre in Delhi, will be now Rs 50.52/Lt, while diesel, which retails at 31.76 rupees, will cost Rs 34.76/Lt.

Tags: Diesel, Fuel Crisis, Fuel Price, Increament in Prices, LPG, Petrol, Price hike

When increasing price of crude in the international market is exerting a pressure over the Indian government to raise the fuel price, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday said that government is not in a position to fully insulate the consumer from the impact of rising oil prices.

On one side when the political parties including the Left are opposing hike in fuel prices, Prime Minister warned that the government could insulate poor people “up to a point” and economic pricing of oil was essential to sustain growth.

“We cannot allow the subsidy bill to raise any further.” said Singh addressing the Assocham’s annual meeting in New Delhi.

Prime Minister, however, ensured that the Indian economy will grow at 8 per cent and above despite of global slowdown. India has maintained the economic growth of 9 per cent and above for the last three years.

Fuel crisis is a cause of concern in the country as well as the world now-a-days. Despite the crude oil prices crossing the range of 127 dollars a barrel in the market and causing huge losses to the state-owned oil marketing firms, Indian government has not been able to pass on the burden due to lack of political consensus.

There are differences within the government also as to how to resolve the crisis. Finance Ministry is opposed to duty cuts sought by the Petroleum Ministry as also the Left parties.

Due to these differences the fuel hike decision is delayed day after day. According to the current reports the government has said that the decision is expected to come in this week.

Tags: Essential Commodities, Fuel Price, LPG, MM Singh, PM, Price, Price hike

Congress president Sonia Gandhi put her opinion on Monday regarding the issue of inflation. She said the government must control the increasing rates of essential commodities to make them affordable by common man.

In the latest issue of the party mouthpiece she said the state government to control the price rise and limit black marketing and hoarding. She said that higher growth is essential but it must be ensured by the government to remain the essential commodities within the range of common man.

“In recent weeks, because of international developments, we have had an increase in the rate of inflation in our country,” Gandhi said in Congress Sandesh.

Being the primary issue in coming elections, Gandhi said that the party confronts many challenges, most importantly, sustaining unity and discipline at all levels of the organization.

“It has gone out of its way to transfer huge amounts of money for development in Non-congress States without playing politics, which the Bharatiya Janata Party did when it was in power. It falls upon each and every Congressman and woman to become fully aware of these achievements and propagate them amongst the people,” Gandhi said.

Meanwhile, on the UNPA (United National Progressive Alliance) and the Left deciding to hold agitations against the government on the issue of price rise, AICC spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi said, “Nobody is agitating against price rise more than the government itself. Concern has been expressed by the government, by the Congress president.”

He said that Congress is highly concerned on this issue and taking serious actions to control.

“No government has taken the kind of decisions that this government has taken. You will see the effects in some days,” he said.

“UNPA is yet to be born, it is struggling to be born” he said while commenting on the UNPA.

Tags: BJP, Commodities, Congress, India, Price hike, Sonia, Sonia Gandhi