Assam govt slashes fuel prices by ₹5/l
Wasim Jaffer’s story is a reflection of the prejudice that is affecting all spheres
Ahead of the upcoming assembly elections due in April-may this year, the Assam government on Friday announced to bring down prices of petrol and diesel in the state by ₹5 per litre each with effect from Friday midnight, making fuel in the state among the least costly in the country. Finance minister Himanta Biswa Sarma was presenting a vote-on-account for six months when he told the Assam assembly that the move will result in losses of nearly ₹80 crore per month and ₹1,100 crore annually. At present, the price of petrol in Assam is ₹90.41/litre. The reduction will bring down prices of diesel to ₹79.29/litre from the existing ₹84.29. States such as Himachal Pradesh (₹77.89/litre) and Haryana (₹79.07/ litre) have prices lower than Assam. State minister Sarma announced that additional taxes of 25% imposed on liquor products during the pandemic will also be withdrawn.
GUWAHATI: Ahead of the upcoming assembly elections due in April/may, the Assam government on Friday announced to bring down prices of petrol and diesel in the state by ₹5 per litre each with effect from Friday midnight, making fuel in the state among the least costly in the country.
Finance minister Himanta Biswa Sarma was presenting a vote-on-account for six months when he told the Assam assembly that the move will result in losses of nearly ₹80 crore per month and ₹1,100 crore annually.
“When the Covid-19 pandemic was at its peak, we had increased taxes on petrol and diesel. With the situation improving and the additional burden on the health sector reducing, the state cabinet has decided to withdraw the additional taxes on these fuels,” he said.
“Effective from Friday midnight, prices of petrol and diesel will decrease by ₹5 per litre. As a result, Assam will have the record of having the least costly petrol in the country after Gujarat. Even prices of diesel would be the lowest after Himachal Pradesh, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh,” he claimed.
At present, the price of petrol in Assam is ₹90.41/litre.
The reduction will bring down prices of diesel to ₹79.29/ litre from the existing ₹84.29. States like Himachal Pradesh (₹77.89/litre) and Harayana (₹79.07/litre) have prices lower than Assam.
Sarma said that additional taxes of 25% imposed on liquor products during the pandemic will also be withdrawn.
However, the opposition Congress called the reduction in prices a mere roll-back of the additional taxes the state government had levied in the name of Covid. “The government is trying to give an impression that it is doing the public a big favour, which it is not,” Congress leader Debabrata Saikia said.
NEW DELHI : India has rolled out nearly 23 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines to 20 countries around the world, both as grants and commercial supplies, Union health ministry said on Friday. “...In the coming weeks, vaccines will be supplied to more countries in Africa, Latin America, CARICOM and Pacific Island states,” external affairs ministry spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said.
Wasim Jaffer, a former Indian Test cricketer and the highest run-scorer in the Ranji Trophy, resigned as the coach of the Uttarakhand team earlier this week, alleging that officials had pushed undeserving players. A day later, a senior officebearer of the Cricket Association of Uttarakhand (CAU) accused Mr Jaffer of “communalising the dressing room” and favouring Muslim players. Mr Jaffer has strongly denied the allegations, expressed deep hurt, and has drawn support from cricketers — from Anil Kumble and Irfan Pathan, to his former teammates in state teams who have vouched for his professionalism and integrity.
A fallout between a coach and a cricket association is not new, neither are differences that may arise on selection of players or how a team should function or the autonomy a coach must enjoy. But Indian cricket has been an exemplar of Indian secularism in practice. It has not mattered if you are Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Christian, Parsi; it has not mattered if you are from the south or north or east or west; it has not mattered if you are from a slick urban upper middle-class background or have small-town subaltern roots. All that has mattered is how you bat, bowl, field and function in the cricket team, on purely cricketing yardsticks. That these allegations were made against Mr Jaffer is deeply disturbing, for it is an effort to introduce the politics of communalism, bigotry and prejudice into what has often been called India’s true religion, cricket.
If the allegations were an aberration, they could well be dismissed. But it comes in the wake of a rising trend of marginalising minorities and forcing them to prove their nationalism at each juncture. In the world of films, another secular space, Muslim actors are increasingly cautious in expressing their views given the systematic attacks against film icons who have, in the past, expressed dissent. In the world of politics, there is severe underrepresentation of Muslims in power structures. In the world of law and the criminal justice system, there is an effort to penalise interfaith marriages, especially between Muslim men and Hindu women. And in society, the gulf between Hindus and Muslims has only increased, often fuelled by hate speech on social media and in electoral campaigns. Mr Jaffer’s story is a disturbing tale of how this prejudice has now seeped into cricket, and must be unequivocally condemned.