Given the fact that diesel consumption by private vehicles is a miniscule amount of total diesel consumption in the country, will oil minister S Jaipal Reddy’s proposal make much of a difference? He says diesel consumption rose to 7.6% in 2011-12 against 6.2% in 2010-11. In contrast, growth in petrol consumption fell from 10.7% in 2010-11 to 5.6% in 2011-12. With most sectors of the economy, like manufacturing, exports, etc down in the dumps, will this move not adversely impact automobile sector as recent data shows sale of diesel cars far outnumber petrol cars?