The first signs of an ignominious storm?

 "Indian state refiners are planning to cut oil imports from Saudi Arabia by about a quarter in May, in an escalating stand-off with Riyadh following OPEC's decision to ignore calls from New Delhi to help the global economy with higher supply," reported Reuters. Saudi Arabia asked India to use some of the 16.71 million barrels of crude oil it bought at $19.90 per barrel in April-May 2020. Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan "felt rising oil prices were hurting economic recovery and demand". How? It is not as if the government will pass on the lower price to customers to bring down transport costs and the resultant prices of goods and services. When Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to power in 2014, petrol was selling at Rs 75 a liter when the price of crude oil was at $110 a barrel but now we are paying Rs 91 per liter at the pump when crude oil is selling at a little over $60 a barrel. The reason is extortionate taxes. "Which essentially means, whatever changes with crude, only about 30% of Indian retail prices will be impacted. As much as 70% of the local prices will remain unaffected," analysed The Economic Times. Having left the European Union the UK wants a free trade deal with India for which UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson was invited as a special guest to the Republic Day ceremony, reported Hindustan Times. Naturally, Britain will want easier access to the Indian market for its Scotch whiskey. To preempt that the government reduced excise duty on imported alcohol from 150% to 50% and added 100% cess, thus keeping the total tax the same. Saudis and British, are they idiots? Modi has blocked the export of 5 million doses of the coronavirus vaccine to the UK, reported Mail Online. "The Serum Institute has denied being responsible, saying the export was blocked by the Indian government in what some branded a case of 'vaccine nationalism' akin to the EU's threat to block Pfizer jabs bound for the UK." It is not because of increased demand at home because India has exported 58.4 doses of the vaccine to 70 countries. Naturally, the Brits are furious and not afraid to show it. Noted scholar and commentator Prof Pratap Bhanu Mehta resigned from Ashoka University saying that he has become a "political liability". He has been openly critical of repression of the people by the government, and its "extraordinary machinery of communication, which literally deploys as many elements in a communicative tool kit as there are feathers in a dancing peacock". Former chief economic adviser Arvind Subramanian also resigned from Ashoka University saying Mehta's ouster was "ominously disturbing". India has till the middle of April to file an appeal against the award of $1.4 billion compensation to Cairn Energy which has already started the process of seizing Indian assets overseas. What ignominy! An American digital forensics consulting firm reported that "fabricated" evidence was planted in gadgets seized from the house of activist Rona Wilson. Democrats in the US Congress have been critical of the Indian government, wrote Seema Sirohi last February. Democrats are now in power and may ask inconvenient questions. A storm seems to be brewing. Whether it is perfect remains to be seen.