Honey goes out of moon mission

The Planning Commission has slashed funding for the programme to send a manned mission to the moon by 2015. The Human Space Flight Programme (HSFP), earlier allocated Rs 238 crores, will now get only Rs 30 crores because the commission wants to allocate the rest for a rural job scheme.

When the parliamentary standing committee on science and technology asked why, the commission’s explanation was since the HSFP would be taken up in phases it did not need this consolidated amount.

The committee chief, Mr T. Subbarami Reddy, said he and other MPs were of the view that once the department of space approved such a vital programme, the Planning Commission had no business putting up stumbling blocks. The committee strongly recommended that the final say in such scientific projects should rest with the department of space, and financial constraints should not be allowed to come in the way.

Space scientists stress on the importance of manned missions particularly as the US, Russia, China and Japan are looking at the habitat on Mars, which is full of water, land bearing clouds, atmosphere, and plan to make regular excursions there by 2030-35.

Deregulate fuel, hike LPG price: Pane

A committee of experts headed by the former Planning Commission member, Mr Kirit Parikh, on Wednesday recommended deregulation of petrol and diesel prices. It also recommended that the domestic price of LPG be hiked by Rs 100 and kerosene by Rs 6 per litre.

At current international crude oil prices, deregulation of auto fuels will result in a Rs 4.72-per-litre increase in the price of petrol and a Rs 2.33-per-litre increase for diesel.

But given the current political realities, the government is unlikely to accept the recommendations of the committee in their entirety. The government is already under attack from the Opposition over high food prices. Any hike in fuel prices at this time will have a backlash. A diesel price hike would result in a further increase in food prices and other products as the cost of transportation will rise.

“We will present a view before the Cabinet in a week. It will be the Cabinet which will take a final decision,” said the petroleum minister, Mr Murli Deora.

The petroleum secretary, Mr S. Sundareshan, said the ministry has been directed by the PM to immediately process the report. But when asked whether the government would implement the recommendations immediately, the secretary was quick to add that there is a “definite difference between processing and implementation”.

Two earlier committees had recommended deregulation of fuel but nothing happened due to political opposition. A committee headed by the present chairman of the PM’s Economic Advisory Council, Dr C. Rangarajan, had in 2006 advised linking prices of petroleum products to cost of crude oil. In 2008, a committee headed by the Planning Commission member, Mr B.K. Chaturvedi had made a similar recommendation.

Asked about this, Mr Deora said: “I hope history doesn’t repeat itself.”