A true story from Puspal village, Dantewada, Chhattisgarh
The skies over Puspal, a small tribal village in Dantewada, Chhattisgarh, were dark and heavy. The roads were broken, schools were shut, and violence had become a part of everyday life. Most people had lost faith in the government. For them, development was just a word, not something real.
But in 2017, a young IAS officer, Saurabh Kumar, came to Dantewada as District Collector. What he saw was heartbreaking: villages cut off from the rest of the world, children who had never held a pencil, and no basic facilities like light, clean water, or proper schools.
Most would have seen it as a hopeless situation. But he didn’t.
Walking with Hope
Instead of sitting in his office, Saurabh started walking—literally. He visited the most remote villages on foot, often without security. In Puspal, he found a broken Anganwadi centre, no teachers, and children working in fields instead of learning in classrooms.
He launched a campaign called “Chhoo Lo Aasman” (Touch the Sky) to bring tribal children back to school.
Changing Lives, Step by Step
The plan was simple and local:
-
Youth from the villages were trained to teach children.
-
Solar lights were installed so classes could be held after dark.
-
Folk songs and plays in local languages were used to explain the value of education.
-
Even former Maoists were brought in to help build roads and support the cause.
With time, the change was visible.
For the first time, the children of Puspal had a working classroom, regular meals, and dreams beyond their village. One girl, Sukki, even topped a district-level exam. Until then, she had never seen a map of India.
Hope Restores Dignity
People started believing again—because someone cared enough to show up, listen, and act. Saurabh Kumar brought more than schemes and files. He brought hope—the kind that is seen in small steps, quiet actions, and sincere efforts.
Conclusion
In places like Puspal, where the sky seemed forever grey with fear and neglect, hope became the only way forward. And that hope came in the form of a determined officer who believed in walking with the people, not just governing them.
“When the sky is grey, hope is the way” is not just a saying—it is a truth that lives in every forgotten corner waiting for someone to believe and begin.
Receive Daily Updates
Recent Posts
Petrol in India is cheaper than in countries like Hong Kong, Germany and the UK but costlier than in China, Brazil, Japan, the US, Russia, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, a Bank of Baroda Economics Research report showed.
Rising fuel prices in India have led to considerable debate on which government, state or central, should be lowering their taxes to keep prices under control.
The rise in fuel prices is mainly due to the global price of crude oil (raw material for making petrol and diesel) going up. Further, a stronger dollar has added to the cost of crude oil.
Amongst comparable countries (per capita wise), prices in India are higher than those in Vietnam, Kenya, Ukraine, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Venezuela. Countries that are major oil producers have much lower prices.
In the report, the Philippines has a comparable petrol price but has a per capita income higher than India by over 50 per cent.
Countries which have a lower per capita income like Kenya, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, and Venezuela have much lower prices of petrol and hence are impacted less than India.
“Therefore there is still a strong case for the government to consider lowering the taxes on fuel to protect the interest of the people,” the report argued.
India is the world’s third-biggest oil consuming and importing nation. It imports 85 per cent of its oil needs and so prices retail fuel at import parity rates.
With the global surge in energy prices, the cost of producing petrol, diesel and other petroleum products also went up for oil companies in India.
They raised petrol and diesel prices by Rs 10 a litre in just over a fortnight beginning March 22 but hit a pause button soon after as the move faced criticism and the opposition parties asked the government to cut taxes instead.
India imports most of its oil from a group of countries called the ‘OPEC +’ (i.e, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Russia, etc), which produces 40% of the world’s crude oil.
As they have the power to dictate fuel supply and prices, their decision of limiting the global supply reduces supply in India, thus raising prices
The government charges about 167% tax (excise) on petrol and 129% on diesel as compared to US (20%), UK (62%), Italy and Germany (65%).
The abominable excise duty is 2/3rd of the cost, and the base price, dealer commission and freight form the rest.
Here is an approximate break-up (in Rs):
a)Base Price | 39 |
b)Freight | 0.34 |
c) Price Charged to Dealers = (a+b) | 39.34 |
d) Excise Duty | 40.17 |
e) Dealer Commission | 4.68 |
f) VAT | 25.35 |
g) Retail Selling Price | 109.54 |
Looked closely, much of the cost of petrol and diesel is due to higher tax rate by govt, specifically excise duty.
So the question is why government is not reducing the prices ?
India, being a developing country, it does require gigantic amount of funding for its infrastructure projects as well as welfare schemes.
However, we as a society is yet to be tax-compliant. Many people evade the direct tax and that’s the reason why govt’s hands are tied. Govt. needs the money to fund various programs and at the same time it is not generating enough revenue from direct taxes.
That’s the reason why, govt is bumping up its revenue through higher indirect taxes such as GST or excise duty as in the case of petrol and diesel.
Direct taxes are progressive as it taxes according to an individuals’ income however indirect tax such as excise duty or GST are regressive in the sense that the poorest of the poor and richest of the rich have to pay the same amount.
Does not matter, if you are an auto-driver or owner of a Mercedes, end of the day both pay the same price for petrol/diesel-that’s why it is regressive in nature.
But unlike direct tax where tax evasion is rampant, indirect tax can not be evaded due to their very nature and as long as huge no of Indians keep evading direct taxes, indirect tax such as excise duty will be difficult for the govt to reduce, because it may reduce the revenue and hamper may programs of the govt.