Why are petrol prices so high in India?

The world petrol prices converted to INR are listed below. The prices are also normalized to the per capita income of the country to give an fair idea of the burden 100 litres of petrol is when normalized by 1 months household salary:

The main reason for the exorbitant prices in India is ridiculous amount of government taxation. Since the government cannot directly tax the common man, including it implicitly in petrol prices works out well for the govt.

It costs the oil companies Rs 30 to buy crude and process it to petrol. But adding the excise duty, federal and state taxes, transporation duties etc takes it all the way upto 60+

2011 - Year of the News.

The NFL is in lock out mode with a season shutout on the cards. No new concept movies on the horizon. But all the action is taking place on the news stands.

2011 so far, has been the year of the news. I bet news channel ad spot prices are through the roof and news anchor business is glamorous than ever. Even since the turn of the year a series of events have unfolded that have had people excited about the news. Busy news channels is not necessarily a good news for the world because often it is the bad story, a tragedy an unexpected series of events that catches peoples imagination. While 2010 was the year of BP Macondo oil spill, i could hardly bear the sight of oil spewing 5000ft below the ocean and news channels were a no go. But just take a look at 2011 -

January
Mass bird and fish deaths in the mid west brought the 2012 apocalypse in to picture
Revolution begins in Egypt's Tahrir Square



February
The full blown Egyptian revolution culminates with the dethroning of President Mubarak
In fighting begins between the Libyan govt forces and opposition


March
In the meanwhile revolution begins in Syria resulting in deaths of several hundred Syrians till date....
NATO declares no fly zone in Libya and the US goes to its 3rd war in a decade.
Japan is hit by a dealine earthquake a Tsunami killing a displacing wavt majority of the population. The ensuing events result in collapse of 5 nuclear powerplants emitting radiation in the atmosphere. With tons and tons of radioactive water discharged in the sea the effects of this tragedy are unthinkable...



April
India wins the cricket world cup 2011 :)
The US government is on the verge of shutdown before a temporary deal is struck between the white house and GOP
Kate Middleton and Prince William tie the knot, in a wedding whole heartedly embraced by the British public, bringing the first good news of the years from the world of monarchs.
Oil reached $100 / barrel..... again



May
(the big one) Worlds most wanted terrorist Osama Bin Laden is killed - shot in the head - this surely will be the #1 news of the year irrespective of what happens in the remaining 8 months....

Silver prices hit $50/ ounce, highest in 3 decades, highlighting the world problem of commodity inflation.



The amount of news we have had to seep in this year has been startling, and it is just the beginning of May.

so what looms ahead?