ALLURI SITARAMA RAJU-A GREAT REVOLUTIONARY.

Alluri Sitaramaraju was born at PANDRANGI Village  in Viskahapatnam District, Andhra Pradesh in July 1897. His father Venkata Narayana Raju was from Mogallu near Bhimavaram and he was a photographer in the Central Prison at Rajahmundry. His mother Suryanarayanamma was from Visakhapatnam.

Sitaramaraju lived mainly at Mogallu and was educated at Rajahmundry at the “Vullithota Banagaryya School”, as well as at Kakinada, Tuni and Ramachandrapuram of East Godavari District. While pursuing his studies at Kakinada he came into contact with a notable freedom fighter Madduri Annapurnayya and also with Rallapalli Achutaramiah a scholar of high repute. Both have influenced his way of thinking.  

His father died when he was in school and he was taken into the care of his uncle Rama Krishnam Raju who was a Tehsildar of Narsapur in West Godavari District. He studied at Taylor High School in Narsapur and then shifted to Tuni along with his brother and sister. From here he travelled in the Visakhaptanam District and became familiar with the problems of the tribal people living there.

When he was 15 years old he joined Mrs AVN College at Visakhaptnam which is the native place of his mother. He dropped out of college after failing in the 4^th Form (9^th class). Though he was not interested in studies he showed a keen interest in the political situation in India at that time.

Following the death of his father, his schooling got disrupted and he went on a pilgrimage and toured the Western, Northern, North-Western, and North-Eastern India during his teens. The social-economic conditions in the country under the British regime, particularly in the tribal areas, deeply moved him. During these journeys, he met revolutionaries in Chittagong (now in Bangladesh).

Sitarama Raju made up his mind to build a movement against the British. He made Adivasi areas in the Eastern Ghats (the forest area along the Visakhapatnam and Godavari district) his home and decided to work for the Adivasis, who were living in abject poverty and being fleeced by police, forest and revenue officials, in 'Manyam' (forest area). He started working amongst them and helped them by educating them and providing medical help, using the basic knowledge he gained from his extensive travels. He decided to make this area the hub for his fight against the British.

He began to organise Adivasis against the atrocities by the police, the forest and revenue officials and extensively toured the'Manyam' area. He told them that they were the sole owners of the forest produce and prepared them to fight against the oppressive Madras Forest Act, 1882. A slew of initial successes to Sitaramaraju gave a lot of hope and confidence among the Adivasis and people in the surrounding villages and more and more of them began to rally behind Sitarama Raju.

He was so confident of the path he chose that he told a reporter (incidentally the only interview he ever gave to a reporter) that he could overthrow the British in two years time.

As he organised the tribals to defend their rights on the produce, he gained tremendous understanding of the terrain that had helped him in great deal in his future guerilla war against the British forces. He would appear at one place this moment and disappear in moment to appear somewhere else in no time, giving sleepless nights to the British forces.

Legends on his attacks and exploits on the police stations in the region have become part of the folklore of the region. He built a strong team of followers from the area, and a formidable guerilla army sporting traditional weapons like bow-and-arrow and spears and achieved number of successes against the British forces.

He learnt from the Adivasis, the time-tested methods of war and added his own tactics to put up a fight against the British. For example, his team used whistles and beatings of the drums to exchange messages amongst the revolutionaries. He soon realised that the traditional weaponry would be of no use against the heavily armed the British forces. He thought the best way is to snatch them from the enemy and launched attacks on police stations with lightning speed.

Sitaramaraju mounted a raid on 3 police stations on 3 consecutive days in August 1922. Chintapalli Police Station was raided on 22^nd, Krishnadevipeta PS on 23^rd and Rajavommangi PS on 24^th. A number of guns, swords and ammunition were obatined from these police stations. In the process his tribal army has also released the revolutionary Verayya Dora from detention.

Thereafter his army also raided Rampachodavaram, Dammanapalli, Addateegala, Narsipatnam and Annavaram Police Stations.   

All the attacks were concluded by a trademark letter signed by Raju himself, giving details of the booty in the station diary. Another hallmark of his attacks was that he would announce the date and time of the attack.

A large contingent of Reserve Police personnel from Visakhapatnam, Rajahmundry, Parvatipuram and Koraput were rushed to these areas led by British officers. Two of the officers – Scot and Heiter were killed in battles with revolutionaries on September 24, 1922, and several others wounded.

The British Army got alerted and platoons of Police and Army were sent to capture Sitarama Raju. At Peddavalassa, Sitarama Raju attacked the British Army. The British were defeated during this battle and suffered heavy casualties and retreated. From that day onwards there was a regular warfare between his army and the Britishers. Sitarama Raju managed to hold the British during the fights and emerged victorious.

In December 1922, the Britsih deployed a company of Assam Rifles near Pegadapalle under Saunders. Sitaramaraju who has by then gone underground resurfaced after 4 months and continued the fight strengthened by tribal volunteers using bows and arrows under the leadership of Gam Mallu Dora and Gantam Dora.  

The Agency Commissioner J R Higgins had announced a prize of Rs 10,000 for Rama Raju's head and Rs 1,000 each on his lieutenants Gantam Dora and Mallu Dora . It deployed hundreds of soldiers from Malabar Special Police and the Assam Rifles, led by top British officers, to crush the movement. Officers like Sanders and Forbes were on the back foot several times as Raju dared them to stop him and his followers from carrying out certain attacks.

The British Government deputed the District Collector T G Rutherford to quell the movement. Rutherford resorted to violence and torture to get to know the whereabouts of Raju and his key followers.

Following a raid led by Sitarama Raju on the Annavaram police outpost on 18 September 1923, Gam Mallu Dora was arrested. Rutherford’s forces also arrested Pericherla Suryanarayana Raju also known as Aggiraju who was a devoted follower of Sitaramaraju.

The British campaign lasted for nearly a year from December 1922. Sitarama Raju was eventually trapped by the British in the forests of Chintapalli and then tied to a tree and shot dead with a rifle in Mampa village.Alluri Sitarama Raju's tomb is located at Krishnadevipeta.

Following the martyrdom of Alluri, the tribal revolt lost its momentum and petered out by October 1923. Police officer Mr. N. Gnaneswara Rao responsible for Raju's entrapment was awarded the title of Rao Bahadur. 

While describing the great exploits of Sitaramaraju it has to be made clear that what he resorted to was guerilla warfare in which he was very successful due to the familiarity of the terrain. There were no direct battles. However, the greatness of the man is evident from the fact that he dared to defy the mighty British Empire with a few hundred soldiers of tribal volunteers armed with bows and arrows and he was ready to lay down his life effortlessly for the cause he believed in.

Sitarama Raju was shot dead by the British at the age of 26. His selflessness and scant regard for his life make him truly great in the annals of the fight against the British.   

RACHAKONDA KINGDOM OF PADMANAYAKA VELAMAS

The Recharla chiefs came to political prominence only in the reign of the Kakatiyas, and they ruled an independent kingdom only after the fall of the Kakatiyas. They ruled from Rachakonda in Nalgonda district. It is one of the historically famous forts from Telengana.

                                                          RACHAKONDA FORT ENTRANCE.

The sasanas describe the founder of the kingdom as Dachanaya also known as Eradachanaya. Velugotivari Vamsavali however, describes the earlier three generations and terms Bethala Reddy also known as Chevi Reddy as the founder of this dynasty. It appears unlikely as none of the kings who ruled Rachakonda had the name Reddy. It appears that this is a mistake which happened as the Vamsavali was compiled subsequently. During the time of Chevi Reddy, Pillalamarri was ruled by Reddi Mannis who are also of Recharla Gotra out of whom he was prominent. Even the Velamas are from Pillalamarri and Anumagallu area only.  

The first known Velamas of this line are Dama, Prasaditya and Rudranayakas. All these were in the service of the Kakatiyas under Ganapati Deva and of them Prasadityanayaka was the most prominent. After Ganapatideva’s death some Kakatiya senanis and samantas tried to prevent Rudrama Devi from coming to the throne. Prasaditynayaka then defeated them and made her ascend the throne. For this he is given the title “Kakatiyarajya Sthapanacharya” by Rudrama Devi.

Nothing is known about his brothers Damanayaka and Rudranayaka. Nothing is also known about Damanayakas sons Vennamanayaka and Sabbinayaka. In the Vamsavali it is mentioned that Vennamnayaka defeated a Muslim army.

Vennamanayakas son is Dachanayaka or Eradachanayaka with whom the Rachakonda kingdom begins. Dachanayaka had three sons Singama, Vennama and Yechama Nayakas. Dachanayaka and his son Singamanayaka were senanis of Prataparudra. When Prataparudra attacked the Pandyas at Kanchi in 1316 AD, Dachanayaka and Singamanayaka have shown great valor and helped the king in winning the battle. Prataparudra gave the title of “Panchpandyadala Vibhala” to Dachanayaka. He probably died in the battle of Orugallu with the Muslims in 1323 AD.    

When the various Andhra Kings united under Musunuri Kapayanayaka in 1335 AD to fight the Muslims, Singamanayaka was also subservient to him but when the Muslim danger was stemmed, as everyone else had done, he had also started building a kingdom for himself. 

When Kapanayaka was fighting the Bahamanis Singama defeated all the nayakas of the Southern Andhra and extended his kingdom upto river Krishna. He also wanted to extend his kingdom in the North and hence attacked Kapayanaka. As per the Vamsavali he defeated Kapayanaka. This, however did not appear to have yielded him much benefit because as per the Pillalamarri sasanam of Kapayanaka in 1357 AD, Kapayas kingdom stretched right upto Pillalmarri. Singamanayaka attacked Jallipalli fort with an intention to increase his kingdom further but was killed by the ruling Somavamsa Kshatriyas by treachery.

Singamanayaka had two sons Anapotanayaka and Madanayaka. When they heard about the death of their father, they marshalled their forces and attacked Jallipalli fort in 1361 AD., and killed the Somavamsa Kshatriyas as well as their supporters. At that time their capital appears to have been Anumagallu. Anapotanayaka shifted the capital from Anumagallu to Rachakonda and built a strong fort there.

                   VIEW OF THE SURROUNDING AREA  FROM THE TOP OF THE FORT.

Anapotanayaka and Madanayaka did not stop with the killing of the Somakula Kshatriyas and went after the remaining kingdoms like Reddimannis and Telugunayakas which supported them.

The Vamsavali mentions various victories obtained by the brothers. Many of these places are on the Southern bank of the Krishna in the Guntur, Kurnool and Nellore areas. There is evidence that they came to the southern side of the Krishna, won the battle with the local kings and obtained control of the Srisailam area. In a book called Rasarnava Sudhakaramu it is mentioned that  Anapotanayaka constructed steps for Sriparvata  and is described as ruling the area between the Vindhyas and Srisailam. While occupying the Srisailam area only they had a conflict with the Kondaveeti Reddy chiefs. At that time Srisailam was under the Reddimannis. As per the Vamsavali Madanayaka and his uncles son Naganayaka defeated Anapota Reddy near Dharanikota. Although victorious Dharanikota did not fall into Anapotanayakas hands. This is the first conflict between the Velama chiefs and the Reddy chiefs. From this time onwards uptill the end of the Kondaveedu Reddy kingdom, this rivalry did not abate.

After this southern conquest Anapotanayaka attacked the Orugallu kingdom of Kapayanaka which was already weakened by the attacks of the Bahamani kingdom. The battle took place at Bhimavaram in Warangal district and the Recharla chiefs emerged victorious. Kapayanayaka was killed in the battle and Anapotanayaka got the control of the kingdom. This must be around 1369 AD in which the Ainavolu sasanam of Anapotanayaka describes him in possession of  Tribhuvanagiri(Bhongir), Orugallu and Singavaram forts. With this victory his kingdom stretched upto Godavari in the North, Srisailam in the South, Bahamani kingdom in the West, and Kondaveedu in the East.

Looking to the excellent relations these kings had with the Bahamani Empire, it is possible that the Bahamanis have helped them in their war against Kapayanayaka. After sometime Anapotanayaka made his brother king at Devarakonda and divided the kingdom for administrative convenience. Devarakonda was subservient to Rachakonda. Anapotanayaka attacked the Kalinga kingdom in 1380 AD. This is known by his Simhachalam sasanam. The Vamsavali however is silent on this. Anapotanayaka ruled upto around 1384 AD.

After Anapotanayaka his son Singamanedu II ascended the throne of Rachakonda. He is also known as Kumara Singabhupaludu. Before coming to the throne he captured the fort of Kalyani in Gulbarga district. It appears that he went to Karnataka to help the Bahamani kings and took this fort during the campaign.

In the early days of Sighabhupala’s reign, the Vijayanagara kings took Srisailam and marched against Rachakonda. The Vijayanagara sasanam in Tumkur district dated 1384 AD states that the king of Vijayanagara Harihara Devaraya II, sent his son Vira Bukkaraya against Orugallu. The Bahamani sultan then laid siege to Kottakonda in Mahabubnagar district (possibly taken earlier by the Vijayanagara forces) and one of the Vijayanagara commanders Saluva Ramadevaraya died in the battle. As per the sasana the sultan has done this to protect his samantas who owed allegiance to him. It appears from the sasana that the Vijayanagara forces were defeated.

The reason for this aggression by Vijayanagara is unknown but Ziauddin Barani mentions that Kapayanaka and Harihararaya (the founder of the Vijayanagara kingdom) are related. Although this may not be certain they may have been closely associated with each other and Kapayanayakas defeat, coupled with the leanings the Rachakonda kings had shown towards the Bahamani kings precipitated the attack.

In 1387 AD, Kumara Singha Bhupala has attacked the Gowtami banks area via Southern Kalinga which was in his possession. As per his Simhachala sasanam he scored a number of victories in the area which was lying in the Kondaveedu kingdom at that time. With this campaign the authority of the Reddys was extinguished in the southern Kalinga.

The Vijayanagara king Hariharadevaraya did not forget his defeat at the hands of the Rachakonda kingdom and the Bahamanis. In 1397 he declared a war against the Bahamani kingdom and as per his Vijayanagara sasana, one of the Vijayanagara senanis, Gunda Dandadhinadha inflicted a defeat on Siaf Khan and Fateh Khan.

To reduce the pressure on the Bahamani forces Singhabhupala sent Ramachandranayaka, the son of Vedagirinayaka to attack the area of the Vijayanagara kingdom on the banks of river Krishna. Ramachandranayaka crossed the Krishna river, entered Kurnool and started plundering it whereupon he was attacked by the Vijayanagara armies near Bandikanuma. Ramachndranayaka emerged victorious in this battle.

Now Harihara II sent his son Bukkaraya to attack Ramachndranayaka. Bukka then defeated Ramachandranayaka and drove him out of the Vijayanagara kingdom. He then entered the Rachakonda kingdom and plundered it. It appears that the victories enumerated in the Vamsavali attributed to  Anapotanayaka son of  Singhabhupala and Ramachandranayaka and Madanayaka the sons of Pedavedagirinayaka seem to have taken place during this campaign. Although both sides claimed victory in this campaign, it appears that Vijayanagara kingdom had been victorious in this battle.

Bukkaraya took his armies crossed the Krishna and attacked the Panugallu fort in Devarakonda kingdom. The Bahamani armies immediately came to the rescue of Panugallu. In this campaign, Pedavadagirinayaka’s son Kumaramadanayaka has defeated Era Krishnaraya and Pandadadhisa as per the Vamsavali. In this Era Krishnaraya besieged Devarakonda. Although he was defeated, Bukkaraya scored a victory and secured the Panugallu fort in 1397 AD. In this campaign the son of Bukkaraya Anantabhupala had shown great valor. A few days after the Panuganti war Kumara Singhabhupala died.

After Singhabhupala his son Immadi Anapotanayaka came to the throne in 1399 AD. He is also known as Kumara Anapotanayaka and Pinnamanayaka. He is a contemporary of the Bahamani sultan Firoz Shah. The burden of saving his kingdom from Bukkaraya fell on him. As per Velugotivari Vamsavali he saved 10,000 people from Metuku (Medak) Fort. It is possible that Bukkaraya went up to Medak fort victorious and laid seize to it and Anapotanayaka relieved and saved the garrison during this campaign.

A number of victories were attributed to him by the Vamsavali. It appears that on the side of Bahamani sultan Anapotanayaka scored a number of victories against the Kondaveedu and Rajahmundry reddy kings and also Vijayanagara kings. It is probable that the Raya supposed to have been stopped by him is Devaraya I.

Contemporary to Anapotanayaka Devarakonda was ruled by Kumara Madanayaka and Ramachandranayaka, the sons of Pedavedagirinayaka. Annadevachoda took refuge in Devarakonda during Pedavedagirinayaka’s reign. Kumara Madanayaka gave him an army and sent him via Kalinga to regain his kingdom. However, this army was defeated by Chalukya Vishveshwara Bhupati a tributory king of the Gangas in 1402 AD. After this Kumara Madanayaka proceeded with an army to help Annadevachoda. It is possible that the victory attributed to him over the Rajahmundry Reddy kings took place during this campaign.

Anapotanayaka mounted a successful campaign in 1417 AD against Panugallu. During the campaign the Bahamani sultan Tajuddin Ferozshah laid siege to Panugallu. At that time Panugallu was under the Vijayanagara kings. The Velamanayakas also went along with their armies to help Ferozshah, but during the campaign their relations soured. Seeing the opportunity Devaraya I negotiated with the Velamanayakas and turned them into his favor. During a fierce battle at Panagallu fort the Velamanayakas like Anapotanayaka came over to the side of Devaraya along with their armies. Due to this Ferozshah ‘s assumed victory turned into defeat and he could barely escape and reach his capital Gulbarga.  Anapotanayaka died during this battle in 1421 AD.

After Anapotanayaka, his brother Madanayaka came to the throne in 1421 AD.,probably because Anapotanayaka’s eldest son Singamanayaka was too young to assume charge. Madanayaka and his relations maintained a rivalry with the Bahamani kings and tried to destroy their kingdom. In the war of 1424 AD.between Devaraya II and sultan Ahmedshah who ruled the Bahamani kingdom with Bidar as his capital, Madanayaka helped the Vijayanagara kings. Due to this after signing a truce with Devaraya II, sultan Ahmedshah declared a war on Telengana in 1425 AD. and sent Azimkhan to besiege Orugallu. Azim Khan was victorious in the war. After this Azim Khan also attacked a number of forts under the Velama Kings and emerged victorious. The Rachakonda kings finally had to sign a truce with Ahmad Shah, the ruler of the Bahamani kingdom. When Ahmad Shah was immersed in a war with the Sultan of Gujarat, the Rachakonda kings recovered all their lost forts.

After Madanayaka his brother Anapotanayaka’s son  Mummadi Singamanayaka came to the throne. He ruled from 1430 AD. onwards. From his time, the Rachakonda and Devarakonda kingdoms fell into decline and  by 1433 AD., the forts of Rachakonda and Orugallu were taken over by the Bahamani Sultan. Only Devarakonda remained in the Padmanayaka’s hands.  

After his war with the Sultan’s of Malwa and Gujarat, Ahmad Shah again attacked the Rachakonda kingdom in 1433 AD. and emerged victorious. In Devarakonda, the contemporary of Mummadi Singhabhupala was the son of Kumara Madanayaka, known as Lingamanayaka. Lingamanedu was very valiant in battle and at the age of 12 years itself, he led the forces and fought a battle. The Vamsavali attributes a lot of victories to him, but many of them could not be confirmed. However, it is certain that Lingamanedu’s attack on the Rajamahendravaram Reddy kingdom weakened and destroyed it. The Padmanayakas of Rachakonda and Devarakonda supported the Bahamani Sultan’s for sometime, the Vijayanagara kings for sometime and the Gajapati’s of Orissa for sometime and fought with their respective enemies.

After 1433 AD., the Rachakonda and Devarakonda kingdoms disappeared and only some forts remained in the Padmanayaka’s control. They then sought the help of the Gajapati’s of Orissa for regaining their kingdom. Kapileswara Gajapati of Orissa attacked the Telengana areas of the Bahamani kingdom, but was defeated by the Bahamani Sultan, Allauddin. In 1435 AD, the Rachakonda area was given by the Sultan to his brother Mohammed Khan. The Padmanayakas then supported Sikander Khan in his rebellion against the Bahamani Sultan Humayun Shah.

Humayun Shah marched against Sikander Khan and killed him in battle. To punish the Padmanayakas who supported Sikander khan, he sent Kwaza Jahan and Nizam Ul Mulk. They raised an army of 20,000 cavalry, 40 elephants and innumerable foot soldiers and laid seize to Devarakonda fort, which was under the Padmanayakas.

The Padmanayakas then sent a message to Kapileswara Gajapati of Orissa appealing for his help and also promising him a large amount of money. The Gajapati then sent his son Hamviradeva (known to Muslims as Ambar Roy) along with a huge force to help the Padmanayakas and also to release Telengana from the control of the Bahamani Sultan. When Hamviradeva’s forces attacked the Bahamani forces from the rear, Singamanayaka and Lingamanayaka came out from the fort and attacked the Bahamani forces from the front. The Bahamani forces were caught in between and suffered a humiliating defeat. Kwaja Jahan and Nizam Ul Mulk somehow escaped from the battlefield. When Humayun Shah came to know of the defeat, he becme enraged and killed Nizam Ul Mulk and imprisoned Kwaja Jahan.

The Bahamani Sultan then assigned the work to Mohammed Gawan, his minister. This was beyond Mohammed Gawan and the Muslim forces suffered one defeat after another in the hands of Hamviradeva and the Padmanayakas. One fort after another fell to them. They took Rachakonda, Bhuvanagiri and finally Orugallu around 1461 AD. Mummadi Singamanayaka’s brother Rao Dharmanayaka became the king of Orugallu. However, now Padmanayakas lost their independence and became the tributaries of the Gajapatis of Orissa.

After the death of the Bahamani Sultan Humayun Shah, Nizam Shah became the Bahamani Sultan. He again tried to recover the Telengana areas from the Padmanayakas, but again Kapileswara Gajapti sent his armies which inflicted a defeat on the Bahamani forces and came near the capital Bidar. Then one Amirzada Muhibullah scored a tactical victory over the Gajapati forces, as a result of which Bidar could be saved. This is however, not a complete victory and the Orugallu kingdom remained under the Padmanayakas.

As long as Kapileswara Gajapati was alive, the Bahamanis could not conquer the Orugallu kingdom and it remained with the Padmanayakas. He died around 1470 AD. The Bahamani Sultan, then sent Malik Nizam Ul Mulk Bahri to conquer Telengana. This man not only took the forts in Telengana, but also Kondaveedu and Rajamahendravaram forts and occupied all of Telengana. The Orugallu kingdom was given by the Sultan to Azim Khan. This happened around 1475 AD. The Recherla kingdom is thus over and the Padmanayakas joined the court of Hampi Viajayanagar.  

DE REGULATED PETRO PRODUCT PRCING IN INDIA---MYTH OR REALITY?

I have made a small study of World Petroleum prices and the findings are interesting. Venezuela is the country where petrol is available cheapest at USD 0.01 or just 1 cent which is unbelievable. They might as well give it free instead.

At the highest end is Hong Kong where Petrol is priced at 1.91 USD. But as per Hong Kong's purcahsing power this price is peanuts because its PPP per capita is 57000 USD comapred to 6101 for India.

In India and neigbouring countries petrol is priced highest in Bangladesh at USD 1.08 and the cheapest is Afganistan at 0.69 USD. India has a 1.05 and stands 2^nd most expensive after Bangladesh in the region.

If we normalize the petrol prices as per the per capita PPP of different countries then apart form Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Bahrain which are high oil producing countries per capita, the cheapest  petrol in the world would be that of US.  

In India, there is a high element of taxation in petroleum prices. After freeing the petroleum product pricing in Government control in June 2010, successive Governments have used it as a prime tool to garner revenue. 

http://www.financialexpress.com/economy/taxes-exceed-actual-cost-of-petrol/163469/

I have figures for Nov 15 when Petrol in Delhi was priced at Rs 60.70 per liter.

   PETROL

1 Cost of production at refinery              24.75

2 Company margin& other costs              2.49

     Excise duty                                            19.06---31.40%

4Dealer commission                                 2.26

5VAT                                                      12.14---20%

TOTAL                           60.70  Taxation—51.4%

DIESEL

   Cost of production at refinery              24.86

  Company margin& other costs              2.19

3 Excise duty                                           10.66—23.20%

4Dealer commission                                 1.43

5VAT                                                        6.79---14.80%

TOTAL                           45.93 Taxation—38%

As both Central Excise & VAT are calculated ad valorem, the more the crude prices go up the more revenue Government gets without putting in any effort and they can always claim it is not they who raised the prices but the oil companies. A very comfortable excuse indeed. Whenever the price drops the Government increases the duties and mops up revenue while passing only a minuscule amount to the consumer.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-04-13/india-s-fuel-demand-rises-to-record-on-gasoline-diesel-growth

As per the figures the petroleum product fuel use in India rose to 96.40 million MT in the year ending March 2016. In this petrol usage is 21.8 million MT and Diesel 74.6 million MT. The density of Petrol and Diesel is around 0.75. Thus this translates into 29,067 million litres of petrol and 99,467 litres of Diesel.

The revenue to the Governments on these is shown below when the rates are assumed as shown above:

PETROL

1.     Total cost                             Rs 1,76,437 crores.

2.     Excise 31.40%                    Rs     55,401 crores 

3.     VAT 20%                            Rs     35,287 crores

DIESEL

1.     Total Cost                            Rs 4,56,852 crores

2.     Excise 23.20%                    Rs 1,05,989 crores

3.     VAT 14.80%                       Rs    67,614 crores

If we combine both the Diesel and Petrol taxation, the Center is richer by 1,61,390 crores on account of Excise and the state is richer by 1,02,901 crores on account of VAT. The total taxation on both these commodities aggregate to Rs 2,64,291 crores for the FY 2015-16.

http://indianexpress.com/article/business/economy/fy16-indirect-tax-collection-govt-mops-up-rs-7-09-lakh-crore-beats-revised-estimates/

Total indirect taxes collected for 2015-16 by Central Government is Rs 7,03,642  crores comprising of Excise, Customs  & Service Tax.

The following is the tax revenue of the Central Government for the year 2015-16 excluding taxes on Union Territories.

1.     Corporate Tax                                4,52,970 crores

2.     Income Tax                                     2,99,051

3.     Customs                                          2,09,500

4.     Excise Duty                                     2,84,142

5.     Service Tax                                     2,10,000

                        TOTAL                  14,55,663 crores

It can be seen that Excise duties on Petroleum products alone account for as much as 93% of the total excise duties collected. 

If the rate of petrol and diesel goes up by a mere Rs 1 per liter then 29067 million litres of petrol would yield an additional revenue of Rs 1,494 crores to the Central & State Governments together. On Diesel of 99,467 million litres this would yield Rs 3780 croes. Thus the total additional revenue to both the center and states would be Rs 5274 crores. 

Look at the petroleum product pricing in India. The Government is taking the people for a big ride on account of petrol price deregulation. The prices of petrol should essentially follow the International prices of crude as well as USD fluctuation but this does not seem to be the case in India. Look at the following chart. The petrol prices were deregulated in the month of June 2010. Since then the prices of crude oil as against petrol prices in India are given in the chart. Petrol prices are taken as per Delhi rates.

1.S.No	2.Month	3.Crude Price per barrel USD	4.USD/INR rate	5.Price oer liter without taxes & expenses	6.Petrol Price Rs	7.Govt price as times of actual pr.Col 6/5
1	Dec 2010	91	44.70	25.58	56	2.19
2	Dec 2011	100	53.06	33.37	66	1.98
3	Nov 2012	85	54.26	29.01	67	2.31
4	Dec2013	99	61.86	38.52	71	1.84
5	Dec 2014	53	63.19	21.06	61	2.90
6	Dec 2015	37	66.20	15.41	60	3.89
7	Dec 2016	53	67.90	22.63	69	3.05

                                                                                                                        

The pricing looks totally illogical with both the Central and the state governments making merry with taxation whenever there is a dip in price but they never bother to bring down the duties later when the prices go up. Despite the so called deregulation, there is absolutely no linkage between the price of crude oil and petroleum prices and there is no pattern whatsoever in its pricing. This Government takes so much of pride in telling people that it has curtailed the revenue deficit but that had been possible only because of increased revenues from taxation on petroleum products and curtailment of subsidies and not because of any cut in other Government expenditure. But yes, the Government has been successful in curtailing subsidies effectively.

With the OPEC going in for production cuts on crude which they had stopped doing for the past 7 years, the crude oil prices are likely to go up further in future and the people  would end up paying much more than what they did when the oil was at around 62 USD per barrel in Dec 2013.

As can be seen from the table the prices of crude were down to 37 USD in Dec 2015 and at the rate of USD then a liter of petrol without taxes was Rs 15.41 but the people ended up paying Rs 60 or around 4 times that amount.

The table mentions only petrol prices, but a similar situation exists for Diesel as well.