Business
Petrol, diesel prices rise again amid volatility in oil market

Petrol and diesel prices rose simultaneously for the fourth day running on Sunday amid volatility in global oil prices with benchmark crude remaining at a high level of over $ 79 a barrel.
Accordingly, diesel price increased by 30 paise per litre in the national capital to Rs 90.77 per litre on Sunday while petrol price increased by 25 paise per litre to Rs 102.39 a litre, according to Indian Oil Corporation, the country’s largest fuel retailer.
Diesel price has now increased on eight days in the last 10 days taking up its retail price by Rs 2.15 per litre in Delhi. Diesel price was raised on Friday by 20 paise per litre and again by 25 paise per litre each on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday and by 30 paise per litre on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
Petrol prices had maintained stability since September 5, but the oil companies finally raised the pump prices this week given a spurt in the product prices lately. Petrol price has also risen on five of the previous six days taking up its primo price by Rs 1.20 per litre.
The OMCs had preferred to maintain their watch prices on the global oil situation before making any revision in prices. This is the reason why petrol prices were not revised for the last three weeks. But extreme volatility in the global oil price movement has now pushed OMCs to effect the increase.
The wait and watch plan of OMCs had come to the relief of consumers earlier as no revision came during a period when crude prices were on the rise over a shortfall in US production and inventories and a pick up in demand. This would have necessitated about Rs 1 increase in price of petrol and diesel.
In Mumbai, the petrol price increased by 25 paise per litre to over Rs 108.50 per litre while diesel rates increased close to Rs 98.50 a litre.
Across the country as well petrol and diesel prices increased between 20-30 paise per litre, but their retail rates varied depending on the level of local taxes in the state.
Fuel prices in the country have been hovering at record levels on account of 41 increases in its retail rates since April this year. It fell on a few occasions but largely remained stable.
After rising over a three year high level of $80 a barrel earlier this week, the global benchmark has now come down to $78 a barrel and now again up to $ 79 a litre. Oil rates are up 2 per cent for the week and this is the fifth weekly gain. Since September 5, when both petrol and diesel prices were revised, the price of petrol and diesel in the international market is higher by around $6-7 per barrel as compared to average prices during August.
Under the pricing formula adopted by oil companies, rates of petrol and diesel are to be reviewed and revised by them on a daily basis. The new prices become effective from morning at 6 a.m.
The daily review and revision of prices is based on the average price of benchmark fuel in the international market in the preceding 15-days, and foreign exchange rates.
But, the fluctuations in global oil prices have prevented OMCs to follow this formula in totality and revisions are now being made with longer gaps. This has also prevented companies from increasing fuel prices whenever there is a mismatch between globally arrived and pump price of fuel.
National
BJP accuses Congress of opposing voter verification to shield fake votes in Bihar

New Delhi, June 27: Following Congress’ objection to the Election Commission of India’s special revision of the state’s voter list ahead of the upcoming Assembly elections in Bihar, the BJP has launched a sharp counterattack, accusing the grand old party of attempting to protect fake voters.
BJP state president Dilip Jaiswal defended the ECI and called Congress’ objections baseless.
“The Election Commission is an independent body which works independently. It is its responsibility to ensure that elections are conducted with complete transparency. If any political party opposes this, it is wrong. Fake voting can be prevented by the revision of the voter list. Voters who have died will be identified. This process will also make it clear whether the voter is actually in Bihar or voting somewhere else. This is a very necessary step for transparency. I congratulate the Election Commission for this,” Jaiswal said.
Bihar Congress president Rajesh Kumar on Thursday criticised the ECI for initiating the voter list revision process in a limited time frame.
He alleged that the move is part of a conspiracy to suppress the electoral rights of marginalised communities.
Reacting strongly to these allegations, BJP leader and Minister Nitin Nabin questioned Congress’ intent behind opposing the exercise.
“I say that Congress should clarify what exactly they are objecting to. If genuine voters are being verified and fake voters are being removed, is Congress sitting here to commit fraud? I want to ask the opposition members who are opposing this, are you trying to gain power through fake votes? Such fake voters will definitely be stopped, and the parties doing fraud will also be taught a lesson,” Nabin asserted.
The ECI has issued instructions for holding Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in Bihar, where polls are to be held by year-end. This means electoral rolls for the state will be prepared afresh.
The special voter list inspection has been undertaken by the ECI as a standard pre-election procedure to ensure the accuracy of electoral rolls.
Officials have stated that the process will help remove deceased or duplicate voters and correct errors, ensuring a fair and transparent election.
Crime
Kerala HC judge files complaint of theft at his residence, police probe on

Kochi, 27 June: The Kochi police have received a theft complaint from Kerala High Court Judge, Justice A. Badharudeen, according to officials on Friday, stating that six sovereigns of gold were missing from his residence.
The complaint, which was filed on Thursday, mentions that the gold has been stolen from the judge’s bedroom. The police have registered an FIR under Section BNS 305.
What has surprised many is that the thief has decamped with gold from a high-security guarded house located in the heart of the commercial capital of the state.
The judge registered the complaint with the Kalamassery police under which his residence falls.
After the preliminary probe, the police are now planning to prepare a list of those who need to be spoken to, as this incident occurred in the bedroom of the senior judge.
More details are awaited.
The incident has raised concerns regarding the security situation in the state. The Congress-led UDF has been accusing the state government of failing to curb the crimes.
It has been found that Kerala is a haven for organised gangs hailing from neighbouring states who specialise in robbing homes, and the cases against non-Keralaite thieves are also on the increase.
According to information prepared by the home department, which was placed before the Assembly last year, it showed 192 cases of theft involving non-Keralites were registered in 2021, and the numbers have been steadily increasing. This rose to 360 in 2022.
In 2023, the number increased further to 519, and by September 2024, a total of 307 such cases were registered. But the image of the Kerala Police got a boost when over 1,350 thieves during this period were put behind bars.
However, with regards to the case being registered in the burglary at the home of a judge, the police appear to have a tough job ahead.
Likewise, with other crimes also on the increase, the Ernakulam Police have come out with a directive to landlords who are seeking to rent out their properties. The police have urged the landlords to get a police clearance certificate from the prospective tenants from their local police station where they stayed.
National
Thackeray brothers will jointly hold one anti-Hindi protest: Sanjay Raut

New Delhi, June 27: Amid plans to hold two protests against imposition of Hindi in schools in Maharashtra, senior Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut on Friday announced that there would be only one demonstration and the two Thackeray brothers would participate in it together.
Even though there has been no formal announcement on this till now by the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) or the Shiv Sena (UBT), but Sanjay Raut’s post on X, in which he has also put up a picture of the two cousins together with a photograph of the late Bal Thackeray in the background, has fuelled speculation of rapprochement between Uddhav and Raj Thackeray and the possibility that they might hold the protest jointly.
Earlier, close to Raj Thackeray’s birthday Uddhav Thackeray had also hinted at a rapprochement between them but nothing concrete had come out of it.
On Thursday MNS chief Raj Thackeray announced the change in morcha date to July 5 instead of July 6 to protest the imposition of Hindi in Marathi and English-medium schools for classes 1 to 5 in Maharashtra.
This was done as the auspicious Ashadhi Ekadashi falls on July 6 when the devotees fast for the day and walk all the way to Pandharpur to pay tribute to the presiding deity Vitthal.
Significantly, Uddhav Thackeray on Thursday extended his party’s support to a morcha organised on July 7 in Mumbai by The Tribhasha Sutra (Three language formula) committee.
Raut’s post is significant because even though both the brothers and their parties had declared that they would not allow the imposition of Hindi, they had announced two different protests.
Insiders from both the parties said that efforts are on to fight as one, in order to avoid a split in the Marathi speaking people opposing the imposition of Hindi.
Now, it remains to be seen whether Sanjay Raut’s post was his own initiative or whether it had the blessings of the leaders of both the parties and the two estranged brothers have finally decided to come together for a cause close to their heart and fight for it jointly.
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