A debate is raging between various government departments about whether to raise prices of petrol for the consumer and by how much. Oil companies which are government controlled are losing billions of rupees because they are being prevented from charging realistic prices from the customer. One way would be to cut taxes such as excise duties but the Finance ministry is unwilling or unable to do so. One reason may be that there are so many ministers with so many civil servants that they are unable to reduce expenses. Inflation is officially around 8% which means that it is probably around 12% and there is no hope of controlling this. Actually inflation has been high for a long time and the reason was the enormous rises in indirect taxation. Ever since this Finance Minister took office he has found ever new services to tax and has also increased the rates by slyly adding road and education cess. Although services make up over 50% of the economy they do not seem to figure in calculating inflation. It is urad dal, low quality rice and probably cow dung. The bubble created by phenomenal rises in property and share markets sucked in enormous quantities of dollars leading the rupee to rise to 38 to the dollar which in turn kept inflation in check. Past sins have caught up. The rupee is now 43 to the dollar and with the dollar falling may sink out of sight. The free loading press is still talking up this governement but the truth is beginning to catch up.