Petrol price was today hiked by 41 paise a litre following the government decision to raise commission paid to petrol pump dealers and firming global oil rates.        

Simultaneously, diesel rates were increased by 10 paise per litre due to a hike in dealers commission. The two increases, which are excluding local sales tax or VAT, will be effective from midnight tonight.        

State-owned oil firms, which restrained themselves from revising petrol price for past seven weeks despite weakening of rupee against US dollar, used the government decision to raise dealer commission on the fuel by 21 paise to effect another 20 paise increase.        

Petrol in Delhi currently costs Rs 71.02 per litre and after the increase it will be price around Rs 71.50. The actual rates, which haven't been worked out yet, will vary from city to city. Diesel rates will go up marginally from Rs 53.67 a litre to about Rs 53.80 in Delhi.    

Petrol price, which are normally revised on 1st and 16th of every month based on the global trend in previous fortnight, were last revised on November 1 when rates were cut by Rs 1.15, excluding local levies.

Amidst speculation about a change of guard in Uttarakhand, Congress today denied any such move is and maintained Vijay Bahuguna will remain the Chief Minister.      

"There is no such move. He remains Chief Minister and he will remain Chief Minister," party spokesperson Sandip Dikshit told reporters in New Delhi.   Bahuguna met Congress President Sonia Gandhi in the morning triggering speculation about his continuance in the top post.        

Bahuguna himself had sought to put a lid on speculation in the media about his being on the way out yesterday, saying "all is well" with him and that he heads a "stable government" in the state.        

Uttarakhand Congress vice president Suryakant Dhasmana also sought to scotch rumours about Bahuguna's removal, terming it is no more than "media speculation".

Congress General Secretary Digvijaya Singh today refused to answer about allegations made against him in the wake of the party's defeat in the Madhya Pradesh assembly elections and described himself as a "punching bag" and a scapegoat.        

Addressing a press conference in Bhopal, the Congress general secretary said that he is used to these sort of allegations and added that he had never replied to them.        

"I think that I have become a punching bag at whom people may hurl all sorts of allegations, but I bounce back and return to where I was," Singh said.         Among other things, Digvijaya was called a "conspirator" by at least two Congress leaders namely, Satyavrat Chaturvedi and Kalpana Parulekar.

NYT editorial: India's overwrought reaction to the arrest of one of its diplomats in the United States is unworthy of a democratic government. Officials in New Delhi have inflamed anti-American outrage instead of calling for justice, especially for the domestic worker who is at the heart of the case.  

The charges brought against Devyani Khobragade, the deputy consul general in New York, by Preet Bharara, the United States attorney in Manhattan, should concern anyone who values worker rights. Ms. Khobragade was arrested last week and accused of submitting false documents to obtain a work visa for her housekeeper and paying her far less than the minimum legal wage.

Prosecutors say the diplomat promised American authorities she would pay $4,500 a month but actually paid just $573 a month and made the housekeeper work far more than 40 hours a week. Instead of concerning themselves with that injustice, many in India seem incensed that Ms. Khobragade was arrested at all.

Read the full editorial here