Centre cuts excise duty on petrol diesel, prices drop sharply

For the past few months, the price of petrol and diesel kept continuously rising. It touched an all-time high a few weeks back, crossing the threshold of 100 rupees/liter. This has caused many people to question the government as to why the prices are continuously rising and what they are doing to stop it. But the government after maintaining complete silence for months has finally decided to cut excise duty on petrol and diesel by 5 and 10 rupees respectively. This move comes after strong words from the opposition as well as commoners who had to bear the brunt of high prices. After the excise duty was slashed, many states have also reduced prices further to control the rising prices. 

Even though the government has taken some steps, it is still the bare minimum it could do. After sitting idle for months and doing nothing, it has done so little. This has irked opposition and they are making the same point. Why so little after so long? The center is yet to respond to the opposition and from their long history of silence, it doesn’t seem like they will. But this is too little by any standards as the prices are still higher than usual and a mere 5/10 rupees relief won’t do anything.