In the largest-ever price increase of petrol, the state-owned oil companies on Saturday hiked the price of petrol by Rs 5 per litre.

Already reeling under rising inflation and high prices, the common man was given an unprecedented jolt. And that is not all: the oil companies said that they should have hiked the price of petrol by Rs 10 pr litre to offset the losses they suffer due to the subsidies they offer.

Although a fuel price hike was inevitable, significantly, the government held back the increase because of assembly elections in five states. Experts say that had fuel prices been hiked earlier, voters would have punished the UPA by voting against it.

This was the ninth hike in the price of petrol in a year. With this hike, inflation is likely to rise sharply once again. With the Reserve Bank of India just last week raising interest rates to curb runaway inflation, the common man is already under tremendous burden.

So what do you think of this increase in the price of petrol? What do you think can be done to register a protest against such huge hikes? How do you plan to tackle or beat this increase? Tell us in the message board below.

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As if the steepest-ever hike in petrol price was not enough, the common man is in for more pain: the diesel rate too is likely to be increased very shortly by as much as Rs 4 per litre.

With diesel prices rising, many major sectors will be badly affected. Among them are fast moving consumer goods, transport, textiles, automobiles, etc. This will have a cascading effect on the prices of general and essential commodities as everyone will pass on the burden to the common man.

Do you think diesel prices should be increased? If not, why? What will do to beat this price hike, if it is implemented?

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With petrol prices already at around Rs 70 a litre and prices of diesel to rise by about Rs 4 a litre, one would have thought that the common man's cup of woes would have been full. But no, there's more pain in the offing.

The prices of cooking gas (liquefied petroleum gas) are also almost certain to go up.

The price of a cylinder of cooking gas is likely to be raised b the government by between Rs 20 and Rs 25 this month.

Is this justified? How will you handle the rise in the price of cooking gas? Tell us.

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You thought that was all? No, yet another hike in petrol price is on the cards soon!

The government had in June last year freed petrol price from its control but oil companies continued to follow 'informal' advice from the oil ministry on rate revision.

However, due to this 'advice' petroleum companies are losing hundreds of crores (billions) of rupees everyday.

Saturday's price hike by Rs 5 a litre will offset some of the losses, but oil companies say that at the current global oil prices, they need the price of petrol to be hiked by over Rs 10 a litre to return profits.

So even before you have recovered from the current increase in petrol prices, you better brace yourself for another major tonk on your head.

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Even as the Reserve Bank of India struggles to control rising inflationary pressure by tightening the monetary policy (in other words, hiking interest rates), the increase in the price of fuel will almost put paid to its efforts to control rising prices of all commodities.

Vegetables and food prices have already gone through the roof and while the common man waits for the government to take steps to provide some succour, the fuel price hike promises to keep the common Indian in pain for some time to come.

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Rising prices are like a fire feeding on itself. As they erode the incomes of wage-earners, they give rise to labour unrest.

That, in turn, brings down productivity leading to further inflation. Thus a vicious circle is established.

It's a tough time for the common people in India. Indians are gasping for breath as prices of essential commodities are spiralling out of control.

With the United Progressive Alliance government deregulating the prices of petro-products, things have got even worse.

Prices of pulses have gone so high that many households have stopped consuming the protein-rich but almost unaffordable dal.

Tell us how you plan to tackle the huge increase in the prices of fuel and the resultant increase in the price of essential commodities, food, etc.