The Evening Wrap: More States slash petrol, diesel prices after Centre's excise duty cut

After fuel prices went through the roof, buckling under pressure, the Union Government on the occasion of Diwali, slashed the excise duty on fuel; several States followed suit by lowering Value Added Tax (VAT) on petrol and diesel to give some respite to consumers. Excise duty on petrol and diesel were slashed by ₹5 and ₹10 per litre on Wednesday. Six BJP-ruled states have announced a cut in VAT rates but a formal notification has so far been issued only in case of four. Puducherry saw an additional ₹7 a litre reduction in both petrol and diesel price because of the cut in value added tax (VAT). Petrol costs ₹103.97 per litre in Delhi against ₹110.04 per litre, according to a price notification of state-owned fuel retailers. Diesel rates accordingly reduced to ₹86.67 per litre from ₹98.42 per litre. In Mumbai, petrol price has been cut by ₹5.87 to ₹109.98 per litre and diesel by ₹12.48 to ₹94.14 per litre. Kolkata saw the price of diesel being reduced by ₹5.82 to ₹104.67 per litre and that of diesel by ₹11.77 to ₹89.79 per litre. Petrol price in Chennai has been reduced by ₹5.26 to ₹101.40 per litre and diesel by ₹11.16 to ₹91.43 per litre. Other states namely, Gujarat, Mizoram and Sikkim governments too have reduced the Value Added Tax (VAT) on petrol and diesel by ₹7 per litre each. The Haryana government too announced a reduction in VAT on the fuels on Thursday, making them cheaper in the BJP-ruled State by ₹12 per litre on Deepavali. Odisha too slashed the prices of petrol, diesel by ₹3 per litre. The Uttar Pradesh government too on Wednesday lowered the VAT on the two fuels making them cheaper by ₹12 per litre in the state. Goa saw an additional ₹5.47 a litre cut in petrol and ₹4.38 on diesel. Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu announced that his government has reduced the value-added tax rates on petrol and diesel by 5.5 per cent. Petrol will be cheaper by over ₹10 per litre and diesel by around ₹15 in the State. “Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel has announced to reduce the prices of petrol and diesel in Gujarat by ₹7 per litre,” the Gujarat CMO said in a statement issued late at night. “ Following Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s decision to reduce the excise duty on petrol and diesel, the Gujarat government has also decided to reduce the VAT on petrol and diesel and implement this reduction in the entire state from midnight,” it stated. With this decision, petrol will now cost ₹95.13 per litre and diesel ₹89.12 per litre in Ahmedabad, while the two fuels will cost ₹94.89 and ₹88.89, respectively, in Surat. With the reduction of taxes announced by the Sikkim government shortly after midnight, petrol would be cheaper by ₹12 per litre and diesel by ₹17 per litre in the State. Petrol was retailing at ₹110.60 per litre and diesel at ₹100.80 per litre in state capital Gangtok on Wednesday. The Nitish Kumar government in Bihar on Thursday reduced its VAT rate on petrol and diesel by more than ₹3 per litre. "Following the Centre’s move to reduce petrol and diesel prices, the state government has decided to provide additional relief to people by reducing the VAT rates. The prices of petrol will be lowered further by ₹3.20 per litre while for diesel it will be ₹3.90 per litre," Mr. Kumar tweeted. Britain says yes to Merck’s coronavirus antiviral pill Britain has granted a conditional authorization to the first pill shown to successfully treat COVID-19 — Merck's coronavirus antiviral, becoming the first country to approve the treatment, although it was not immediately clear how quickly the pill would be available, agencies have reported. “Today is a historic day for our country, as the UK is now the first country in the world to approve an antiviral that can be taken at home for COVID-19," said Britain's health secretary, Sajid Javid. “We are working at pace across the government and with the NHS to set out plans to deploy molnupiravir to patients through a national study as soon as possible," he said in a statement, referring to the U.K.'s National Health Service. Doctors said the treatment would be particularly significant for people who do not respond well to vaccination. The pill was licensed for adults 18 and older who have tested positive for COVID-19 and have at least one risk factor for developing severe disease. The drug, known as molnupiravir, is intended to be taken twice a day for five days by people at home with mild to moderate COVID-19. An antiviral pill that reduces symptoms and speeds recovery could prove ground-breaking, easing caseloads on hospitals and helping to curb outbreaks in poorer countries with fragile health systems. It would also bolster the two-pronged approach to the pandemic: treatment, by way of medication, and prevention, primarily through vaccinations. Molnupiravir is also pending review at regulators in the U.S., Europe and elsewhere. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced last month it would convene a panel of independent experts to scrutinize the pill's safety and effectiveness in late November. Initial supplies will be limited. Merck has said it can produce 10 million treatment courses through the end of the year, but much of that supply has already been purchased by governments worldwide. Merck and its partner Ridgeback Biotherapeutic have requested clearance for the drug with regulators around the world to treat adults with mild-to-moderate COVID-19 who are at risk for severe disease or hospitalization. That's roughly the same group targeted for treatment with infused COVID-19 antibody drugs, the standard of care in many countries for patients who don't yet require hospitalization. Merck announced preliminary results last month showing its drug cut hospitalizations and deaths by half among patients with early COVID-19 symptoms. The results have not yet been vetted by outside scientists. The company also did not disclose details on molnupiravir’s side effects, except to say that rates of those problems were similar between people who got the drug and those who received dummy pills. The drug targets an enzyme the coronavirus uses to reproduce itself, inserting errors into its genetic code that slow its ability to spread and take over human cells. That genetic activity has led some independent experts to question whether the drug could potentially cause mutations leading to birth defects or tumors. In company trials, both men and women were instructed to either use contraception or abstain from sex. Pregnant women were excluded from the study. Merck has stated that the drug is safe when used as directed. Molnupiravir was initially studied as a potential flu therapy with funding from the U.S. government. Last year, researchers at Emory University decided to repurpose the drug as a potential COVID-19 treatment. They then licensed the drug to Ridgeback and its partner Merck. Last week, Merck agreed to allow other drugmakers to make its COVID-19 pill, in a move aimed at helping millions of people in poorer countries get access. The Medicines Patent Pool, a United Nations-backed group, said Merck will not receive royalties under the agreement for as long as the World Health Organization deems COVID-19 to be a global emergency. But the deal was criticized by some activists for excluding many middle-income countries capable of making millions of treatments, including Brazil and China. Experts have commended Merck for agreeing to widely share its formula and promising to help any companies who need technological help in making their drug — something no coronavirus vaccine producers have agreed to. Previously Merck announced licensing deals with several Indian generic drugmakers to manufacture lower-cost versions of the drug for developing countries. Countries pledge to phase out dependence on fossil fuels Several major coal-using nations have pledged for the first time to phase out their use of the heavily-polluting fossil fuel or to speed up existing plans to do so, while others announced commitments to end investment in new coal-fired power plants, agencies have reported. U.K. Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng said on Wednesday that the commitments made on the sidelines of the U.N. climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland, meant the “end of coal is in sight.” But critics noted the several major economies still have not set a date for ending their dependence on the fuel that is a major source of planet-warming emissions. The British government said pledges of new or earlier deadlines for ending coal use came from countries including Poland, Ukraine, Vietnam and Chile. India is also committed to achieving net zero emissions by 2070. Existing targets for curbing global warming require countries to stop burning coal, but many major economies including the United States, China, India and Japan have set no formal dates for ending its use. Still, experts said the announcement and others made so far at the October 31-November 12 summit showed the growing momentum to ditch coal. “Today's commitments will help to shift whole continents on their journey to phase out coal," said Dave Jones of the energy think tank Ember. Poland is the second-biggest user of coal in Europe after Germany, which is set to phase it out as early as 2030. While the Polish government had previously agreed to end coal use by 2049, the new pledge would bring this deadline forward by at least a decade. Ukraine, the third-biggest coal consumer in Europe, is also bringing forward its coal deadline, from 2050 to 2035. “The progress on coal being shown at COP26 demonstrates that the conditions are ripe for a global coal exit,” said Leo Roberts, a senior researcher at the environmental think tank E3G. But some environmental activists said the commitments didn't go far enough. “Emissions from oil and gas already far outstrip coal and are booming, while coal is already entering a terminal decline,” said Murray Worthy of the campaign group Global Witness. “This is a small step forwards when what was needed was a giant leap.” The agreements on coal are not part of the formal negotiations at the U.N. talks in Glasgow. But British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, whose country is hosting the conference, had said he wanted to see deals on coal, cars, trees and cash. Assam earmarks land for the evicted but insists on citizenship proof The Assam government said it has earmarked around 130 hectares for relocating the evicted families of Gorukhuti in Darrang district provided they are valid citizens besides a set of other requirements, the emphasis on documentation has raised concerns about dispossession. According to reports, around 1,200-1,400 houses were razed to the ground on September 20 and September 23 at Dhalpur I, II and III villages in Gorukhuti, leaving over 7,000 people homeless. Village markets, mosques, kabristans, madrassas and maktubs were also bulldozed. The eviction drive had passed off peacefully on the first day but met stiff resistance by local people on the second instance and also left two dead in a police firing on September. Among the dead was a 12-year-old boy who had got his first identity proof, an Aadhaar card, before he was shot dead. Over 20 people were injured, including policemen. The evicted families of Dhalpur village in Gorukuti will not, however, be paid any compensation as they are “encroachers”, the government said in an affidavit to Gauhati High Court in response to a PIL filed by the Leader of the Opposition Debabrata Saikia.“An area of about 1,000 bighas (about 134 hectares) of land in the southern part of No 1 & No 3 Dhalpur village has been earmarked for relocating the evicted persons subject to verification of the status of erosion affected and landless status in their respective original places and districts, citizenship and existing rehabilitation policy of the state,” the affidavit by the government said. Sipajhar Revenue Circle Officer Kamaljeet Sarma, representing the Assam government, said in the affidavit that the occupants of the areas were encroachers and they were “liable to be evicted at any time” as per rules framed under Assam Land and Revenue Regulation, 1886.“The matter is related to encroachment and eviction only and is not at all related to acquisition of land. Therefore, the question of resettlement, rehabilitation and compensation etc as per Land Acquisition Act is irrelevant,” he added. Covid Watch: Numbers and Developments The number of reported coronavirus cases from India stood at 3,43,20,659 at the time of publishing this newsletter, with the death toll at 4,59,644. Evening Wrap will return tomorrow. [logo] The Evening Wrap 04 NOVEMBER 2021 [The Hindu logo] Welcome to the Evening Wrap newsletter, your guide to the day’s biggest stories with concise analysis from The Hindu. [[Arrow]Open in browser]( [[Mail icon]More newsletters]( More States slash petrol, diesel prices after Centre's excise duty cut After fuel prices went through the roof, buckling under pressure, the Union Government on the occasion of Diwali, slashed the excise duty on fuel; [several States followed suit]( by lowering Value Added Tax (VAT) on petrol and diesel to give some respite to consumers. Excise duty on petrol and diesel were slashed by ₹5 and ₹10 per litre on Wednesday. Six BJP-ruled states have announced a cut in VAT rates but a formal notification has so far been issued only in case of four. Puducherry saw an additional ₹7 a litre reduction in both petrol and diesel price because of the cut in value added tax (VAT).  Petrol costs ₹103.97 per litre in Delhi against ₹110.04 per litre, according to a price notification of state-owned fuel retailers. Diesel rates accordingly reduced to ₹86.67 per litre from ₹98.42 per litre. In Mumbai, petrol price has been cut by ₹5.87 to ₹109.98 per litre and diesel by ₹12.48 to ₹94.14 per litre. Kolkata saw the price of diesel being reduced by ₹5.82 to ₹104.67 per litre and that of diesel by ₹11.77 to ₹89.79 per litre. Petrol price in Chennai has been reduced by ₹5.26 to ₹101.40 per litre and diesel by ₹11.16 to ₹91.43 per litre. Other states namely, Gujarat, Mizoram and Sikkim governments too have reduced the Value Added Tax (VAT) on petrol and diesel by ₹7 per litre each. The Haryana government too announced a reduction in VAT on the fuels on Thursday, making them cheaper in the BJP-ruled State by ₹12 per litre on Deepavali. Odisha too slashed the prices of petrol, diesel by ₹3 per litre. The Uttar Pradesh government too on Wednesday lowered the VAT on the two fuels making them cheaper by ₹12 per litre in the state. Goa saw an additional ₹5.47 a litre cut in petrol and ₹4.38 on diesel. [Despite a cut in excise duty, diesel was selling more than ₹100 per litre in several States.]  Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu announced that his government has reduced the value-added tax rates on petrol and diesel by 5.5 per cent. Petrol will be cheaper by over ₹10 per litre and diesel by around ₹15 in the State. “Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel has announced to reduce the prices of petrol and diesel in Gujarat by ₹7 per litre,” the Gujarat CMO said in a statement issued late at night. “ Following Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s decision to reduce the excise duty on petrol and diesel, the Gujarat government has also decided to reduce the VAT on petrol and diesel and implement this reduction in the entire state from midnight,” it stated. With this decision, petrol will now cost ₹95.13 per litre and diesel ₹89.12 per litre in Ahmedabad, while the two fuels will cost ₹94.89 and ₹88.89, respectively, in Surat.  With the reduction of taxes announced by the Sikkim government shortly after midnight, petrol would be cheaper by ₹12 per litre and diesel by ₹17 per litre in the State. Petrol was retailing at ₹110.60 per litre and diesel at ₹100.80 per litre in state capital Gangtok on Wednesday. The Nitish Kumar government in Bihar on Thursday reduced its VAT rate on petrol and diesel by more than ₹3 per litre. "Following the Centre’s move to reduce petrol and diesel prices, the state government has decided to provide additional relief to people by reducing the VAT rates. The prices of petrol will be lowered further by ₹3.20 per litre while for diesel it will be ₹3.90 per litre," Mr. Kumar tweeted. [underlineimg] Britain says yes to Merck’s coronavirus antiviral pill Britain has [granted a conditional authorization to the first pill shown to successfully treat COVID-19]( — Merck's coronavirus antiviral, becoming the first country to approve the treatment, although it was not immediately clear how quickly the pill would be available, agencies have reported. “Today is a historic day for our country, as the UK is now the first country in the world to approve an antiviral that can be taken at home for COVID-19," said Britain's health secretary, Sajid Javid. “We are working at pace across the government and with the NHS to set out plans to deploy molnupiravir to patients through a national study as soon as possible," he said in a statement, referring to the U.K.'s National Health Service. Doctors said the treatment would be particularly significant for people who do not respond well to vaccination. The pill was licensed for adults 18 and older who have tested positive for COVID-19 and have at least one risk factor for developing severe disease. The drug, known as molnupiravir, is intended to be taken twice a day for five days by people at home with mild to moderate COVID-19. [An experimental COVID-19 treatment pill, called molnupiravir developed by Merck & Co Inc and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics LP.]  An antiviral pill that reduces symptoms and speeds recovery could prove ground-breaking, easing caseloads on hospitals and helping to curb outbreaks in poorer countries with fragile health systems. It would also bolster the two-pronged approach to the pandemic: treatment, by way of medication, and prevention, primarily through vaccinations. Molnupiravir is also pending review at regulators in the U.S., Europe and elsewhere. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced last month it would convene a panel of independent experts to scrutinize the pill's safety and effectiveness in late November. Initial supplies will be limited. Merck has said it can produce 10 million treatment courses through the end of the year, but much of that supply has already been purchased by governments worldwide. Merck and its partner Ridgeback Biotherapeutic have requested clearance for the drug with regulators around the world to treat adults with mild-to-moderate COVID-19 who are at risk for severe disease or hospitalization. That's roughly the same group targeted for treatment with infused COVID-19 antibody drugs, the standard of care in many countries for patients who don't yet require hospitalization. Merck announced preliminary results last month showing its drug cut hospitalizations and deaths by half among patients with early COVID-19 symptoms. The results have not yet been vetted by outside scientists. The company also did not disclose details on molnupiravir’s side effects, except to say that rates of those problems were similar between people who got the drug and those who received dummy pills. The drug targets an enzyme the coronavirus uses to reproduce itself, inserting errors into its genetic code that slow its ability to spread and take over human cells. That genetic activity has led some independent experts to question whether the drug could potentially cause mutations leading to birth defects or tumors. In company trials, both men and women were instructed to either use contraception or abstain from sex. Pregnant women were excluded from the study. Merck has stated that the drug is safe when used as directed. Molnupiravir was initially studied as a potential flu therapy with funding from the U.S. government. Last year, researchers at Emory University decided to repurpose the drug as a potential COVID-19 treatment. They then licensed the drug to Ridgeback and its partner Merck. Last week, Merck agreed to allow other drugmakers to make its COVID-19 pill, in a move aimed at helping millions of people in poorer countries get access. The Medicines Patent Pool, a United Nations-backed group, said Merck will not receive royalties under the agreement for as long as the World Health Organization deems COVID-19 to be a global emergency. But the deal was criticized by some activists for excluding many middle-income countries capable of making millions of treatments, including Brazil and China. Experts have commended  Merck for agreeing to widely share its formula and promising to help any companies who need technological help in making their drug — something no coronavirus vaccine producers have agreed to. Previously Merck announced licensing deals with several Indian generic drugmakers to manufacture lower-cost versions of the drug for developing countries. [underlineimg] Countries pledge to phase out dependence on fossil fuels Several major coal-using nations have [pledged for the first time to phase out their use of the heavily-polluting fossil fuel]( to speed up existing plans to do so, while others announced commitments to end investment in new coal-fired power plants, agencies have reported. U.K. Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng said on Wednesday that the commitments made on the sidelines of the U.N. climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland, meant the “end of coal is in sight.” But critics noted the several major economies still have not set a date for ending their dependence on the fuel that is a major source of planet-warming emissions. The British government said pledges of new or earlier deadlines for ending coal use came from countries including Poland, Ukraine, Vietnam and Chile. India is also committed to achieving net zero emissions by 2070. Existing targets for curbing global warming require countries to stop burning coal, but many major economies including the United States, China, India and Japan have set no formal dates for ending its use. Still, experts said the announcement and others made so far at the October 31-November 12 summit showed the growing momentum to ditch coal. “Today's commitments will help to shift whole continents on their journey to phase out coal," said Dave Jones of the energy think tank Ember. Poland is the second-biggest user of coal in Europe after Germany, which is set to phase it out as early as 2030. While the Polish government had previously agreed to end coal use by 2049, the new pledge would bring this deadline forward by at least a decade. Ukraine, the third-biggest coal consumer in Europe, is also bringing forward its coal deadline, from 2050 to 2035. “The progress on coal being shown at COP26 demonstrates that the conditions are ripe for a global coal exit,” said Leo Roberts, a senior researcher at the environmental think tank E3G. But some environmental activists said the commitments didn't go far enough. “Emissions from oil and gas already far outstrip coal and are booming, while coal is already entering a terminal decline,” said Murray Worthy of the campaign group Global Witness. “This is a small step forwards when what was needed was a giant leap.” The agreements on coal are not part of the formal negotiations at the U.N. talks in Glasgow. But British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, whose country is hosting the conference, had said he wanted to see deals on coal, cars, trees and cash. [underlineimg] Assam earmarks land for the evicted but insists on citizenship proof The Assam government said [it has earmarked around 130 hectares for relocating the evicted families]( of Gorukhuti in Darrang district provided they are valid citizens besides a set of other requirements, the emphasis on documentation has raised concerns about dispossession.  According to reports, around 1,200-1,400 houses were razed to the ground on September 20 and September 23 at Dhalpur I, II and III villages in Gorukhuti, leaving over 7,000 people homeless. Village markets, mosques, kabristans, madrassas and maktubs were also bulldozed. The eviction drive had passed off peacefully on the first day but met stiff resistance by local people on the second instance and also left two dead in a police firing on September. Among the dead was a 12-year-old boy who had got his first identity proof, an Aadhaar card, before he was shot dead. Over 20 people were injured, including policemen. The evicted families of Dhalpur village in Gorukuti will not, however, be paid any compensation as they are “encroachers”, the government said in an affidavit to Gauhati High Court in response to a PIL filed by the Leader of the Opposition Debabrata Saikia.“An area of about 1,000 bighas (about 134 hectares) of land in the southern part of No 1 & No 3 Dhalpur village has been earmarked for relocating the evicted persons subject to verification of the status of erosion affected and landless status in their respective original places and districts, citizenship and existing rehabilitation policy of the state,” the affidavit by the government said. Sipajhar Revenue Circle Officer Kamaljeet Sarma, representing the Assam government, said in the affidavit that the occupants of the areas were encroachers and they were “liable to be evicted at any time” as per rules framed under Assam Land and Revenue Regulation, 1886.“The matter is related to encroachment and eviction only and is not at all related to acquisition of land. Therefore, the question of resettlement, rehabilitation and compensation etc as per Land Acquisition Act is irrelevant,” he added. [underlineimg] Covid Watch: Numbers and Developments The number of reported coronavirus cases from India stood at 3,43,20,659 at the time of publishing this newsletter, with the death toll at 4,59,644. [underlineimg] Evening Wrap will return tomorrow.  Today's Top Picks [[‘Annaatthe’ movie review: Rajinikanth stars in a loud, listless family saga] ‘Annaatthe’ movie review: Rajinikanth stars in a loud, listless family saga]( [[India's net zero commitment at CoP 26, explained | In Focus Podcast] India's net zero commitment at CoP 26, explained | In Focus Podcast]( [[Sensex, Nifty tick higher as Samvat 2078 begins on auspicious note] Sensex, Nifty tick higher as Samvat 2078 begins on auspicious note]( [['I join you to spend Deepavali with my family': Modi at Army post in J&K's Nowshera] 'I join you to spend Deepavali with my family': Modi at Army post in J&K's Nowshera]( Copyright @ 2021, THG PUBLISHING PVT LTD. 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