31st March 2022 News: Petrol, diesel costlier by ₹6.40 with 9th hike in 10 days

HT Daily News Wrap

Petrol, diesel costlier by ₹6.40 with the 9th hike in 10 days, The Centre hiked the dearness allowance (DA) for central government employees and pensioners, Pakistan PM Imran Khan deferred his address to the nation amid the political turmoil and other top news in this bulletin.
Russian President Vladimir Putin indeed is in dak about the ground reality of the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war and especially how Russia has been faring in the conflict, as Putin’s officials are too afraid to tell him the truth, the White House said citing some declassified US intelligence. The findings also indicate a “persistent tension” between Putin and his ministry of defence, a senior US official said. Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu, whose sudden disappearance triggered speculations, is also not any more aligned with Putin, the US findings have confirmed. Ukraine claimed Shoigu had suffered a heart attack after he had a heated confrontation with Putin, which Kremlin dismissed. Petrol and diesel rates continue to soar as state-owned oil retailers hiked the fuel prices for the ninth time in the last 10 days. According to the latest price notification, the petrol and diesel prices have been increased by 80 paise, taking the overall increase to Rs 6.40 per litre. In Delhi, petrol and diesel are being sold at  Rs 101.81 per litre and  Rs 93.07 per litre respectively, while in Mumbai, which has the costliest fuel among metro cities, petrol and diesel prices per litre are at  Rs  116.72 and  Rs  100.94 after an 84-paisa hike. In Chennai, the price of petrol is  Rs  107.45 and diesel price is  Rs  97.52, an increase of 76 paise. The petrol price in Kolkata is Rs 111.35 per litre and diesel is Rs 96.22 per litre. The Centre on Wednesday hiked the dearness allowance (DA) for central government employees and pensioners. The decision was taken by the cabinet committee on economic affairs in a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. It means an increase of three per cent over the existing rate of 31 per cent of the basic pay to compensate for the price rise, the government statement said. According to the Department of Expenditure under the Ministry of Finance, the term basic pay means the pay drawn according to the 7th pay commission and does not include any other pay. The additional instalment will be effective from January 1 this year.  The hike is in accordance with the accepted formula based on the recommendations of the 7th Central Pay commission. The combined expenditure to the state exchequer will be Rs 9,544.50 crore per annum. According to the government, the new dearness allowance hike will benefit 47.68 lakh central government employees and 68.62 lakh pensioners. Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan deferred his address to the nation amid the political turmoil in the country. Although no reasons are being given behind the Pakistan prime minister’s move to postpone his address to the nation today, it is understood that the decision to not go before the public was taken after Khan met Army chief General Qamar Bajwa and Director General ISI Lt General Naveed Anjum. According to inputs received from diplomats in Islamabad, the Army chief general Bajwa with his ISI deputy advised PM Khan against addressing the nation as it would vitiate the atmosphere in the country. After Muttahida Qaumi Movement (Pakistan) sent a letter in writing to the speaker of the national assembly that they are no longer with the PTI ruling alliance, PM Khan summoned army chief and DG ISI for a meeting. It was quite evident after the MQM-P walked out of the Imran government, the opposition numbers in the 342-strong assembly had gone up to 177 with the majority standing at 172. People of the country need to work hard to increase their income to cope with the rising inflation, Yoga guru Ramdev said on Wednesday when asked about the incessant rise in fuel prices witnessed in the past one week. “Even a Sanyasi like me can work hard. The general public needs to work hard to increase their earnings to deal with this inflation,” he said during his visit to Karnal on Wednesday. “Desh chalane ke liye unko tax bhi lena pad raha hai, agar mai Sanyasi hokar atharan ghante kam kar sakta hu to desh ke aur logon ko bhi aur mehnat karni chahiye (The government has to collect taxes to run the country. If, being a Sanyasi, I can work for 18 hours, then other people of the county can also work more to raise their income and fight inflation),” he said when asked about his old statements that the prices of fuel would fall if the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power.