The Evening Wrap: Petrol, diesel prices hiked 80 paise a litre; LPG up ₹50

Petrol and diesel prices were on Tuesday hiked by 80 paise a litre while domestic cooking gas prices were increased by ₹50 per cylinder, ending an over four-and-half month election-related hiatus in rate revision, sources said. Petrol in Delhi will now cost ₹96.21 per litre as against ₹95.41 previously while diesel rates have gone up from ₹ 86.67 per litre to ₹87.47. Simultaneously, the price of a non-subsidised LPG cylinder has been increased to ₹949.50 for each 14.2-kg bottle in the national capital. While LPG rates were last revised on October 6, 2021, petrol and diesel prices had been on a freeze since November 4 as five States including Uttar Pradesh and Punjab went to polls. LPG prices had gone up by close to ₹100 per cylinder between July and October 6, 2021, before criticism halted the revision in rates. Both LPG and auto fuel prices had been on a freeze since then despite the cost of raw material spiralling, first because of demand returning, with economies globally rebounding from the pandemic induced slowdown, and then due to the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Non-subsidised cooking gas is the one that consumers buy after exhausting their quota of 12 cylinders at subsidised or below-market rates. However, the government pays no subsidy on LPG in most cities and the price of the refill that consumers, including the poor women who got free connection under the much-talked Ujjwala scheme, is the same as non-subsidised or market price LPG. Sources said a 5-kg LPG cylinder will now cost ₹349 while the 10 kg composite bottle will come for ₹669. The 19-kg commercial cylinder now costs ₹2003.50. Since June 2017, petrol and prices are to be adjusted daily in line with the benchmark international rate in the preceding 15 days. But rates have been on the freeze since November 4, 2021, just after the Narendra Modi government cut excise duty on petrol by ₹5 per litre and that on diesel by ₹10 a litre to bring down rates from record-high levels. Most state governments too lowered local sales tax or VAT. Before these tax reductions, petrol price had touched an all-time high of ₹110.04 a litre and diesel came for ₹98.42. These rates corresponded to Brent soaring to a peak of $86.40 per barrel on October 26, 2021. Brent was at $ 82.74 on November 5, 2021, before it started to fall and touched $ 68.87 a barrel in December. Meanwhile, the Rajya Sabha was adjourned twice in the morning session on March 22 as Opposition parties, including the Congress and TMC, voiced their protest against the increase in the prices of petrol, diesel and cooking gas LPG. With slogan shouting Opposition MPs trooping into the well of the House, proceedings were first adjourned till 12 noon and then till post-lunch. While Congress and TMC MPs carrying placards trooped into the well, other Opposition MPs, including from the Left parties, stood in the aisles. When the House met after the first adjournment, Deputy Chairman Harivansh called for the listed Question Hour to be taken and asked opposition parties to not disrupt the proceedings. Unrelenting, the Opposition members shouted slogans, drowning out Minister of State for Chemicals and Fertiliser Bhagwanth Khuba who was replying to the first listed question. Harivansh asked TMC leader Derek O’Brien to call his party MPs back to their seats and allow Question Hour to proceed, saying precious national resources have been spent. With Opposition members continuing their vociferous protests, he adjourned the proceedings till 2 p.m. Earlier in the morning when the House met for Zero Hour proceedings, the Upper House was adjourned for a little less than an hour. While TMC members stormed into the well of the House carrying placards, Congress, Left, Samajwadi Party and Shiv Sena MPs were up on their feet, some raising slogans. This happened after Chairman M. Venkaiah Naidu said he has not accepted notices given by Shaktisinh Gohil (Congress), Dola Sen (TMC), V Sivadasan, Elamaram Kareem and John Brittas (CPM) under rule 267, requiring setting aside of the listed agenda to take up a discussion. India must stand against ‘autocracies’ like Russia and China: senior U.S. official Hours after U.S. President Joseph Biden called India “somewhat shaky” in its support for sanctions against Russia, in comparison to other Quad partners Japan and Australia, a senior U.S. official visiting New Delhi said India must stand against “autocracies like Russia and China”. U.S. Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland, who met Foreign Secretary Harsh Shringla on Monday, ended her two-day visit to India with a meeting with External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar. “Good discussion on expanding our bilateral cooperation, on South Asia, Indo-Pacific and the Ukraine situation,” Jaishankar tweeted about his meeting with Nuland on Tuesday morning, after which the U.S. delegation left for Sri Lanka. The Ministry of External Affairs did not comment on Biden’s remarks, which indicates that despite a number of visits by leaders from countries that are part of the sanctions regime to India in the past week, New Delhi’s position has not shifted on its refusal to join the sanctions, even as the government explores buying more Russian oil at discounted prices. When asked, Nuland told television channel NDTV that she had spoken to Indian officials about the need for democracies to “stand together and evolve their position vis-a-vis Russia because of the choices Mr. Putin had made,” adding that she believed there was an “evolution” in thinking in India. “We know about the historic relationship and defence relationship between India and Russia at a time when the U.S. was not prepared to have that kind of relationship. But times have changed. They’ve changed in terms of the U.S. and European willingness to be strong defence and security partners with India. We are doing more together in the Indo-Pacific. But times have also changed in terms of the level of brutality and violation of international humanitarian law that we are seeing,” Nuland said, indicating that the U.S. could help India in sourcing its military hardware and spares supplies from former Soviet countries who are now the U.S. allies. “We have been supporting the sourcing of security needs for Ukraine along with our allies, including Soviet-era equipment, and those are the kind of things we can do with India as it continues to evolve its position,” she said in the interview. ED attaches properties of Uddhav Thackeray’s brother-in-law The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday provisionally attached immovable properties belonging to Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray’s brother-in-law Shridhar Madhav Patankar. As per a release, the ED attached immovable properties worth ₹6.45 crore in the case of Pushpak Bullion Private Limited, one of the group companies of Pushpak Group. It includes 11 residential flats in the Neelambari project, Thane belonging to Shree Saibaba Grihanirmiti Private Limited owned and controlled by Patankar. On March 6, 2017, the Central agency had recorded a money laundering case against Pushpak Bullion and group companies under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and had provisionally attached immovable and movable properties of Pushpak Bullion to the tune of ₹21.46 crore. They belonged to Mahesh and Chandrakant Patel (director of Pushpak Bullion) and their family members. Investigation has revealed that Mahesh Patel had siphoned off and layered funds of the Pushpak group concern, Pushpak Realty, in connivance with Nandkishore Chaturvedi (an accommodation entry provider). Pushpak Realty Developer, in the garb of sale, transferred funds to the tune of ₹20.02 crore to the entities controlled by Chaturvedi after layering it through various connected/ unconnected entities. As per the ED, Chaturvedi operates a number of shell companies that are used to transfer money from Humsafar Dealer Private Limited in the garb of extending unsecured loans of ₹30 crore to Shree Saibaba Grihanirmiti Private Limited. Thus, the money siphoned off by Mahesh Patel in connivance with Nandkishore Chaturvedi was parked in the real estate projects by Shree Saibaba Grihanirmiti Private Limited, claimed the ED. Reacting to the ED’s seizure of property of Patankar, the ruling tripartite Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) termed it vindictive action against political opponents by the BJP. Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut termed it an attempt to destabilise the MVA government but warned that such attempt would yield nothing for the BJP. “Maharashtra has never bowed down to such tactics and it never will. These actions are part of the ongoing attempts to bring down the State government,” he said. Raut pointed out that like Maharashtra, the ED is also targeting the West Bengal government. “It seems the ED has closed offices in States like Gujarat where country’s biggest scam took place,” he said. Maharashtra Congress president Nana Patole said the BJP could not tolerate opposition government in any State. “All these issues and threats are for one reason and that is to bring down the Maharashtra government. Instead of targeting us with false claims, the BJP-led Central government should concentrate more on solving people’s problems such as inflation,” he said. However, the BJP refuted such claims saying the Central agencies were free and fair and were acting based on evidence. “Agencies follow evidence and conduct probe. In future, Mr. Patankar’s inquiry will reveal more secrets and Maharashtra’s Thackeray government will be exposed further,” said former BJP MP Kirit Somaiya. Every Indian legally bound to reply census queries: Govt tells Lok Sabha Every Indian is legally bound to answer census questions and all requisite steps are being taken to carry out the census and the National Population Register (NPR) exercise smoothly, the Lok Sabha was informed on March 22. Union Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai said the State Governments appoint census officers to take or aid in or supervise the census exercise under the provisions of the Census Act 1948. “Every person is legally bound to answer the census questions to the best of his or her knowable or belief. All requisite measures are taken with the support of the state governments to conduct the census and the National Population Register [NPR] exercise smoothly,” he said in a written reply to a question. The house listing phase of the census and the exercise to update the NPR were scheduled to be carried out across the country from April 1 to September 30, 2020 but postponed due to the COVID-19 outbreak. According to the earlier schedule, the reference date of the census was March 1, 2021 and October 1, 2020 in the snow-bound Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand. The census operation continues to be on hold and the Government has not yet announced the new schedule. Haryana Assembly passes anti-conversion Bill amid Congress opposition, walkout Amid Congress opposition and walkout, the Haryana Assembly on Tuesday passed a Bill against religious conversion through force, undue influence or allurement. The Bill, which had been introduced on March 4, was taken up for consideration and its passing in the Assembly on Tuesday. Similar Bills in the recent past have been passed in BJP-ruled States, including Himachal Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. According to the Haryana Prevention of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Bill, 2022, if conversion is done by allurement, use of force, fraudulent means or coercion, then there is a provision for imprisonment of one to five years and a fine of not less than ₹1 lakh. As per the Bill, whoever converts or attempts to convert a minor, a woman or a person belonging to the Scheduled Castes or Scheduled Tribes, shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than four years, which may extend to 10 years and liable to fine not less than ₹3 lakh. Congress leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda, who is the Leader of the Opposition, said already in the existing laws there is provision of punishment for forcible conversions and there was no need to bring a fresh law. Senior Congress leader Kiran Choudhary said, “I think this will be a black chapter in Haryana’s history.” She said already there is provision of punishment for forcible conversions. “This Bill will deepen the communal divide, this Bill is scary. It can have grave consequences in future. The shape in which this Bill has been brought is what we are objecting to,” she said. Senior Congress leader Raghuvir Singh Kadian said, “There is no emergency or urgency for bringing this Bill. I feel that this Bill smacks of divisive politics, which is not good.” The Congress members later staged a brief walkout from the House. In brief Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on March 22 submitted his resignation from the Azamgarh constituency to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla. Akhilesh Yadav had won the Karhal Assembly seat in the recently-held Assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh. Besides him, the Samajwadi Party (SP) has four other members in the Lok Sabha, including his father Mulayam Singh Yadav. Akhilesh Yadav has decided to concentrate on State politics by resigning from his Lok Sabha seat. Evening Wrap will return tomorrow [logo] The Evening Wrap 22 MARCH 2022 [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]( Petrol, diesel price hiked 80 paise a litre; LPG up ₹50; Opposition protests in Parliament   Petrol and diesel prices were on Tuesday [hiked by 80 paise a litre while domestic cooking gas prices were increased by ₹50 per cylinder]( ending an over four-and-half month election-related hiatus in rate revision, sources said. Petrol in Delhi will now cost ₹96.21 per litre as against ₹95.41 previously while diesel rates have gone up from ₹ 86.67 per litre to ₹87.47. Simultaneously, the price of a non-subsidised LPG cylinder has been increased to ₹949.50 for each 14.2-kg bottle in the national capital. While LPG rates were last revised on October 6, 2021, petrol and diesel prices had been on a freeze since November 4 as five States including Uttar Pradesh and Punjab went to polls. LPG prices had gone up by close to ₹100 per cylinder between July and October 6, 2021, before criticism halted the revision in rates. Both LPG and auto fuel prices had been on a freeze since then despite the cost of raw material spiralling, first because of demand returning, with economies globally rebounding from the pandemic induced slowdown, and then due to the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Non-subsidised cooking gas is the one that consumers buy after exhausting their quota of 12 cylinders at subsidised or below-market rates. However, the government pays no subsidy on LPG in most cities and the price of the refill that consumers, including the poor women who got free connection under the much-talked Ujjwala scheme, is the same as non-subsidised or market price LPG. Sources said a 5-kg LPG cylinder will now cost ₹349 while the 10 kg composite bottle will come for ₹669. The 19-kg commercial cylinder now costs ₹2003.50. Since June 2017, petrol and prices are to be adjusted daily in line with the benchmark international rate in the preceding 15 days. But rates have been on the freeze since November 4, 2021, just after the Narendra Modi government cut excise duty on petrol by ₹5 per litre and that on diesel by ₹10 a litre to bring down rates from record-high levels. Most state governments too lowered local sales tax or VAT. Before these tax reductions, petrol price had touched an all-time high of ₹110.04 a litre and diesel came for ₹98.42. These rates corresponded to Brent soaring to a peak of $86.40 per barrel on October 26, 2021. Brent was at $ 82.74 on November 5, 2021, before it started to fall and touched $ 68.87 a barrel in December. Meanwhile,  the Rajya Sabha was adjourned twice in the morning session on March 22 as Opposition parties, including the Congress and TMC, voiced their protest against the increase in the prices of petrol, diesel and cooking gas LPG. With slogan shouting Opposition MPs trooping into the well of the House, proceedings were first adjourned till 12 noon and then till post-lunch. While Congress and TMC MPs carrying placards trooped into the well, other Opposition MPs, including from the Left parties, stood in the aisles. When the House met after the first adjournment, Deputy Chairman Harivansh called for the listed Question Hour to be taken and asked opposition parties to not disrupt the proceedings. Unrelenting, the Opposition members shouted slogans, drowning out Minister of State for Chemicals and Fertiliser Bhagwanth Khuba who was replying to the first listed question. Harivansh asked TMC leader Derek O’Brien to call his party MPs back to their seats and allow Question Hour to proceed, saying precious national resources have been spent. With Opposition members continuing their vociferous protests, he adjourned the proceedings till 2 p.m. Earlier in the morning when the House met for Zero Hour proceedings, the Upper House was adjourned for a little less than an hour. While TMC members stormed into the well of the House carrying placards, Congress, Left, Samajwadi Party and Shiv Sena MPs were up on their feet, some raising slogans. This happened after Chairman M. Venkaiah Naidu said he has not accepted notices given by Shaktisinh Gohil (Congress), Dola Sen (TMC), V Sivadasan, Elamaram Kareem and John Brittas (CPM) under rule 267, requiring setting aside of the listed agenda to take up a discussion. India must stand against ‘autocracies’ like Russia and China: senior U.S. official  Hours after U.S. President [Joseph Biden called India “somewhat shaky”]( in its support for sanctions against Russia, in comparison to other Quad partners Japan and Australia, [a senior U.S. official visiting New Delhi said India must stand against “autocracies like Russia and China”](. U.S. Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland, who met Foreign Secretary Harsh Shringla on Monday, ended her two-day visit to India with a meeting with External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar. [External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar meets U.S. Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland in New Delhi on March 22, 2022. Photo: Twitter/@DrSJaishankar via PTI] “Good discussion on expanding our bilateral cooperation, on South Asia, Indo-Pacific and the Ukraine situation,” Jaishankar tweeted about his meeting with Nuland on Tuesday morning, after which the U.S. delegation left for Sri Lanka. The Ministry of External Affairs did not comment on Biden’s remarks, which indicates that despite a number of visits by leaders from countries that are part of the sanctions regime to India in the past week, New Delhi’s position has not shifted on its refusal to join the sanctions, even as the government explores buying more Russian oil at discounted prices. When asked, Nuland told television channel NDTV that she had spoken to Indian officials about the need for democracies to “stand together and evolve their position vis-a-vis Russia because of the choices Mr. Putin had made,” adding that she believed there was an “evolution” in thinking in India. “We know about the historic relationship and defence relationship between India and Russia at a time when the U.S. was not prepared to have that kind of relationship. But times have changed. They’ve changed in terms of the U.S. and European willingness to be strong defence and security partners with India. We are doing more together in the Indo-Pacific. But times have also changed in terms of the level of brutality and violation of international humanitarian law that we are seeing,” Nuland said, indicating that the U.S. could help India in sourcing its military hardware and spares supplies from former Soviet countries who are now the U.S. allies. “We have been supporting the sourcing of security needs for Ukraine along with our allies, including Soviet-era equipment, and those are the kind of things we can do with India as it continues to evolve its position,” she said in the interview. ED attaches properties of Uddhav Thackeray’s brother-in-law The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday [provisionally attached immovable properties belonging to Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray’s brother-in-law Shridhar Madhav Patankar](. As per a release, the ED attached immovable properties worth ₹6.45 crore in the case of Pushpak Bullion Private Limited, one of the group companies of Pushpak Group. It includes 11 residential flats in the Neelambari project, Thane belonging to Shree Saibaba Grihanirmiti Private Limited owned and controlled by Patankar. On March 6, 2017, the Central agency had recorded a money laundering case against Pushpak Bullion and group companies under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and had provisionally attached immovable and movable properties of Pushpak Bullion to the tune of ₹21.46 crore. They belonged to Mahesh and Chandrakant Patel (director of Pushpak Bullion) and their family members. Investigation has revealed that Mahesh Patel had siphoned off and layered funds of the Pushpak group concern, Pushpak Realty, in connivance with Nandkishore Chaturvedi (an accommodation entry provider). Pushpak Realty Developer, in the garb of sale, transferred funds to the tune of ₹20.02 crore to the entities controlled by Chaturvedi after layering it through various connected/ unconnected entities. As per the ED, Chaturvedi operates a number of shell companies that are used to transfer money from Humsafar Dealer Private Limited in the garb of extending unsecured loans of ₹30 crore to Shree Saibaba Grihanirmiti Private Limited. Thus, the money siphoned off by Mahesh Patel in connivance with Nandkishore Chaturvedi was parked in the real estate projects by Shree Saibaba Grihanirmiti Private Limited, claimed the ED. Reacting to the ED’s seizure of property of Patankar, the ruling tripartite Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) termed it vindictive action against political opponents by the BJP. Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut termed it an attempt to destabilise the MVA government but warned that such attempt would yield nothing for the BJP. “Maharashtra has never bowed down to such tactics and it never will. These actions are part of the ongoing attempts to bring down the State government,” he said. Raut pointed out that like Maharashtra, the ED is also targeting the West Bengal government. “It seems the ED has closed offices in States like Gujarat where country’s biggest scam took place,” he said. Maharashtra Congress president Nana Patole said the BJP could not tolerate opposition government in any State. “All these issues and threats are for one reason and that is to bring down the Maharashtra government. Instead of targeting us with false claims, the BJP-led Central government should concentrate more on solving people’s problems such as inflation,” he said. However, the BJP refuted such claims saying the Central agencies were free and fair and were acting based on evidence. “Agencies follow evidence and conduct probe. In future, Mr. Patankar’s inquiry will reveal more secrets and Maharashtra’s Thackeray government will be exposed further,” said former BJP MP Kirit Somaiya. Every Indian legally bound to reply census queries: Govt tells Lok Sabha  [Every Indian is legally bound to answer census questions]( and all requisite steps are being taken to carry out the census and the National Population Register (NPR) exercise smoothly, the Lok Sabha was informed on March 22. Union Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai said the State Governments appoint census officers to take or aid in or supervise the census exercise under the provisions of the Census Act 1948. “Every person is legally bound to answer the census questions to the best of his or her knowable or belief. All requisite measures are taken with the support of the state governments to conduct the census and the National Population Register [NPR] exercise smoothly,” he said in a written reply to a question. The house listing phase of the census and the exercise to update the NPR were scheduled to be carried out across the country from April 1 to September 30, 2020 but postponed due to the COVID-19 outbreak. According to the earlier schedule, the reference date of the census was March 1, 2021 and October 1, 2020 in the snow-bound Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand. The census operation continues to be on hold and the Government has not yet announced the new schedule. Haryana Assembly passes anti-conversion Bill amid Congress opposition, walkout Amid Congress opposition and walkout, [the Haryana Assembly on Tuesday passed a Bill against religious conversion]( through force, undue influence or allurement. The Bill, which had been introduced on March 4, was taken up for consideration and its passing in the Assembly on Tuesday. [Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar speaks in the State Assembly in Chandigarh on March 21, 2022. Photo: Haryana CMO via PTI] Similar Bills in the recent past have been passed in BJP-ruled States, including Himachal Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. According to the Haryana Prevention of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Bill, 2022, if conversion is done by allurement, use of force, fraudulent means or coercion, then there is a provision for imprisonment of one to five years and a fine of not less than ₹1 lakh. As per the Bill, whoever converts or attempts to convert a minor, a woman or a person belonging to the Scheduled Castes or Scheduled Tribes, shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than four years, which may extend to 10 years and liable to fine not less than ₹3 lakh. Congress leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda, who is the Leader of the Opposition, said already in the existing laws there is provision of punishment for forcible conversions and there was no need to bring a fresh law. Senior Congress leader Kiran Choudhary said, “I think this will be a black chapter in Haryana’s history.” She said already there is provision of punishment for forcible conversions. “This Bill will deepen the communal divide, this Bill is scary. It can have grave consequences in future. The shape in which this Bill has been brought is what we are objecting to,” she said. Senior Congress leader Raghuvir Singh Kadian said, “There is no emergency or urgency for bringing this Bill. I feel that this Bill smacks of divisive politics, which is not good.” The Congress members later staged a brief walkout from the House. In brief Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on March 22 [submitted his resignation]( from the Azamgarh constituency to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla. Akhilesh Yadav had won the Karhal Assembly seat in the recently-held Assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh. Besides him, the Samajwadi Party (SP) has four other members in the Lok Sabha, including his father Mulayam Singh Yadav. Akhilesh Yadav has decided to concentrate on State politics by resigning from his Lok Sabha seat. Evening Wrap will return tomorrow  Today‘s Top Picks [[Six women, two children burnt to death in Bengal’s Birbhum after Trinamool leader’s murder] Six women, two children burnt to death in Bengal’s Birbhum after Trinamool leader’s murder]( [[Data | India transitions from money purse to digital wallets] Data | India transitions from money purse to digital wallets]( [[Watch | A therukoothu artiste on performing at ‘Namma Ooru Thiruvizha’] Watch | A therukoothu artiste on performing at ‘Namma Ooru Thiruvizha’]( [[Explained | What is the World Happiness Report?] Explained | What is the World Happiness Report?]( Copyright @ 2021, THG PUBLISHING PVT LTD. 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