Subsidy n. a sum of money given to help keep the price of something low. That is the dictionary meaning of the word ' subsidy ' but it seems that the constant lies told by the Indian government has brain washed even highly educated people into believing that something that is being sold at twice the fair value is actually being subsidised by the government. In an article in the Hindustan Times Abijit Banerjee, Ford Foundation International Professor of Economics and Director and Abdul Latif Jameel of the Poverty Action Lab, MIT argue that subsidies on diesel should be removed. They give the example of a man and a woman both going 10 km to work, the man travels by public bus while the woman drives in a Mercedes. Increasing the price of diesel by Rs. 20 would increase the cost of travel by Re. 1 for the man but by Rs. 80 for the woman in the merc thus subsidies are helping the rich woman more than the poor man. No one on a salary can afford a merc in India so the woman probably runs a business creating jobs for many. Indeed she may be employing the man in the bus. She pays high income tax, property tax, wealth tax and other taxes without getting anything in return. Possibly two thirds of the price of the merc was tax and she has paid enormous road tax. The price of diesel in the US varies from $ 2.964 to $ 3.183 per gallon which includes a tax of 16%. This works out to Rs. 30 a lit. The price of diesel in India today is Rs. 40.49 which means the woman in the merc has paid huge taxes to fill her tank. If economists in high posts do not understand the meaning of the word ' subsidy ' then their theories are bound to be rubbish. No wonder the economies in the world are in such a mess.