Disparity between Petrol (Gas) and Diesel prices in India

A litre of petrol in India costs USD1.50 and Diesel USD0.90. This difference is creating lot of buzz these days. Many people are opting for Diesel engine cars to save on running costs. The price of Diesel is controlled by the Government of India because its major consumer is Indian Railways, road transport (read Trucks) and agriculture (farm tractors, water pumps), and it does not want these sectors to pay more because of political reasons. However, Indian government officials want to devise a mechanism to charge more for Diesel fuel from Diesel car owners as they believe this to be an undue advantage to Diesel car owners. Also it is believed that Diesel cars pollute more than their Petrol counterparts. What they fail to understand is that the percentage of Diesel consumption (of total Diesel consumed) by such car owners is very less (around 10%), and Diesel technology is much cleaner (in some cases more cleaner than Petrol engines) than before. If someone is buying an expensive SUV, say a Toyota Fortuner, there is every reason to believe that this is his/her second car to be used on weekends. Infact, this is a favour done by the buyer to the otherwise sluggish industry by paying for an expensive car, and thus sustaining hundreds of jobs!! Moreover there is no petrol version of SUVs in India!