One stingy paisa: Aam admi finally got a fuel price cut, but not quite what they bargained for ????

Dashed hopes hurt like the dickens. After top government and BJP functionaries built up expectations of a cut in pump prices, consumers were left aghast by the size of the reduction when it finally came on Wednesday ??? a stingy one paisa per litre. Predictably this tragicomedy had social media wits pe-trolling the sarkar with a full tank. From #FuelLootBySuitBoot and #1PaisaGormint trending to agonised calculations that one would have to buy 100 litres of fuel to save a rupee, and pained cries at how the one paisa demonetised in the 1970s shouldn???t be attempting re-entry into the economy of 2018, there prevailed a widespread sense of a cruel joke.

The government, though, has sent out reassurance that it is working on ???long-term??? solutions. These sound mysterious but we may already have seen a preview. The one paisa cut came after 16 consecutive days of relentless price increase which in turn were preceded by 19 days of a very enjoyable price hiatus ??? coinciding with the Karnataka poll fever. Likewise when the temperature begins peaking in the assembly elections of Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, MP fuel prices will begin moderating ??? this can be called a rational expectation.??Not to be confused with tending-to-be-dashed Great Expectations, like for a truly free dynamic pricing of petroleum products.

It???s true that lately global crude prices have hit the gas, bolstered by shrinking stockpiles and rising geopolitical risk. Maybe our government is working on a long-term fix where the milk of human kindness flows smooth from Tehran to Washington and Moscow and even Pyongyang ??? poor Miss World would then need other things to wish for than world peace. Until then we have to really count our coins.