'Majority of Indians cutting expenses to cope with high fuel prices'

Agencies

February 22, 2021

New Delhi, Feb 22: As petrol and diesel prices soar to record high levels, and petrol nearing the Rs 100 mark across metro cities, around 51 per cent Indians are cutting on their other expenses to manage their spending on fuel prices, showed a survey by Local Circles.

Around 21 per cent of the respondents to the survey said that they are "cutting spending on essentials and it is painful" for them. Another 14 per cent are dipping into savings to pay for it.

The survey showed that around 43 per cent of respondents said that their monthly petrol or diesel bills were lower due to limited commute or work from home among other factors. Another 2 per cent reported no spending on the fuels.

On the question of what the respondents want their state governments to do for lowering the fuel prices, 32 per cent said that the government should levy an absolute value of the value added tax (VAT) instead of a percentage of the base price, and 47 per cent said the rate of VAT should be reduced.

There were, however, 8 per cent of consumers who said that the current VAT model is "fine".

The poll showed that 79 per cent of the citizens want their state governments to take action against rising petrol and diesel prices, either by lowering the VAT or levying an absolute value of the tax. Levy of an absolute VAT instead of a percentage VAT on the base price can help keep the prices relatively lower even if base price of petrol and diesel rises in the coming months.

The survey by LocalCircles to understand how Indians are coping with the skyrocketing rise of petrol and diesel prices in the last 12 months received more than 22,000 responses from citizens located in more than 291 districts of the country.

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Israeli forces invade southwestern Syria, set up checkpoint in Quneitra

News Network

November 24,2025

Israeli forces have pushed over the Syrian frontier, erecting a checkpoint and stopping vehicles in the southwestern city of Quneitra, in yet another breach of the Arab country’s sovereignty.

The violation took place on Sunday, when the troops made their way across the border, setting up the outpost near the Ain al-Bayda junction in northern Quneitra, Syrian outlets reported.

According to the al-Ikhbariya paper, an Israeli detachment positioned itself at the junction, halting cars and conducting searches.

The Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) reported that three Israeli military vehicles then moved further into the northern countryside, deploying between the town of Jubata al-Khashab and the villages of Ofaniya and Ain al-Bayda. The agency added that a separate Israeli unit mounted a new incursion in the central region, approaching the villages of Umm Batina and al-Ajraf.

Residents said such activities have surged in recent months, pointing to Israeli advances onto farmland, leveling of extensive forested areas, arrests, and spread of mobile checkpoints.

The Israeli regime began markedly increasing its military aggression against Syria last year.

The escalation coincided with increasingly ferocious onslaughts throughout the country by the so-called Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) Takfiri terrorist group, which the government of President Bashar al-Assad had confined to northwestern Syria. The HTS, however, managed to overthrow the government as the Israeli attacks would pummel the country’s civilian and defensive infrastructure.

Various reports have shown that, during the escalation, the regime conducted more than 1,000 airstrikes on the Syrian territory and over 400 ground raids into the south.

Following the collapse of the Assad government, Tel Aviv also widened its grip over the occupied Golan Heights by taking control of a demilitarized buffer zone, in defiance of a 1974 Disengagement Agreement. Earlier this month, senior Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, visited the buffer zone, prompting expressions of alarm on the part of the United Nations.

The United States, the regime’s biggest ally, has, meanwhile, been fraternizing the HTS head Abu Mohammed al-Jolani amid the widely reported prospect of rapprochement with Tel Aviv.

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