Oil marketing companies on Thursday announced an increase in petrol prices .
They have been revised due to the fall in the value of the rupee and an increase in the international price of oil.
For a country that is heavily dependent on oil imports, not aligning domestic and global fuel prices makes for poor policy. To that extent, the change in the price of fuel is rational and should be accepted by all.
Where the picture gets complicated is in the continuing hand of the government in guiding the price of diesel. If a change in the value of the rupee and hardening of oil prices dictate an increase in the price of petrol, surely diesel prices, too, should be raised? For obvious, political, reasons there is silence on the subject. This is unfair to a large number of citizens who have to shell out more money merely because their numbers aren’t large enough to shift a bad political equilibrium