NazariyaEvery side of the story. You decide.
LiveBusiness· Updated 6 NovLimited coverage

Karnataka says petrol samples had up to 31.2% ethanol

Karnataka's government says tests at a Bengaluru lab found ethanol above the 20% E20 limit in petrol samples from major oil companies, with the highest reading at 31.2% in an IOCL sample. It wants the Centre to act against oil marketers and to make ethanol content visible at pumps.

Why it matters: E20 petrol is sold to vehicle owners across India, so any gap between the stated and actual ethanol blend affects fuel costs, mileage and engine wear.

Based on 3 articles read in full. Scores describe each article's framing, not the outlet and not whether it is accurate.

Large outlets read: 2 of 15 (Hindustan Times, The Hindu). Most of India’s largest outlets, including NDTV, India Today, Times of India, Hindustan Times, The Hindu and Indian Express, block our reader in this prototype, so their coverage is missing here. The launch pipeline reads their public feeds.

What's missing: Neither the oil companies nor the Union government has yet responded to Karnataka's findings in these reports.

What everyone agrees on

  • Karnataka's government says tests at Shriram Research Institute in Bengaluru found ethanol above 20%, with the highest reading of 31.2% in an IOCL sample. 1 2 3
  • The state says oil companies' own lab reports did not disclose ethanol content. 1 3
  • Karnataka wants action against oil marketing companies and ethanol content displayed at fuel pumps. 1 2 3

How the coverage differs

All three outlets rely mainly on the Karnataka government's claims; they differ on sample counts, districts and the estimated consumer loss.

  • Consumer protection: the minister's demands include penalties on oil companies, ethanol display at pumps and a compensation fund for vehicle damage. 1
  • Testing process: the lab is described as ISO-certified and NABL-accredited, and the state sent samples from five oil brands across several districts. 2 3
  • State-Centre angle and caveats: Karnataka asked the Union government to explain the findings, though its statement says they do not show how widespread such levels are. 3

Where they disagree

No real disagreement between sides in this coverage.

What's missing

  • No company response: Hindustan Times says it has reached out to the companies, and no reply is reported in these articles. 3
  • No Union government reply: None of the articles carries a response from the Centre or the petroleum ministry. 1 2 3
  • Unclear sample count: Reports cite 63 samples, 14 samples with 11 above 20%, and six lab reports, across six or seven districts. 1 2 3
  • Unexplained loss estimate: Consumer loss is given as ₹62,000 crore in one report and about ₹1.01 lakh crore a year in another, with no method explained. 1 3

The articles

Centre
1 · The HinduConfidence: Medium
Lab tests show ethanol blend in E20 petrol as high as 31% in Karnataka
This article:

Why: Mostly consumer-protection and regulation angle with mild welfare/state-oversight tilt; farmer-market point is minor. Sourcing is one-sided toward Karnataka's Congress government, so partisanship goes to stance, not ideology.

3 · Hindustan TimesConfidence: Medium
Karnataka reports ethanol concentration in petrol up to 31.2%
This article:

Why: Mostly relays Karnataka govt's test claims and demands on E20 ethanol; touches statism/consumer rights mildly, with a state-vs-Union angle. Centre-left lean is slight; company replies are pending.

Not ideological
2 · The WeekConfidence: Medium
E31 petrol? In Karnataka, fuel samples contain ethanol beyond 20% blending limit
This article:

Why: A consumer-protection and fuel-testing story with no religion, identity, social-justice or statism angle; it leans on the Karnataka government's test findings and its demand for action.

How we score

Ideology score, −10 to +10

Left-leaning (−10 to −3)
Secular-pluralist framing, minority protection, caste justice and voter access, civil liberties, an active state.
Centre (−2 to +2)
Several positions represented fairly, neutral language, reporting kept apart from opinion.
Right-leaning (+3 to +10)
Cultural nationalism, national strength and security, scepticism of group-based policy, voter-roll integrity, market-led growth.

Stance toward the government

Critical, Neutral or Supportive, scored separately. It refers to the Union government unless the story is about a state. On the spectrum strip, each dot is an article: its position is the ideology score and its colour is the stance.

The swap test

If an article would score differently with the parties' roles reversed, that signal is partisanship. It goes into the stance tag, not the ideology score.

Confidence

High, Medium or Low, based on how much of the article was read, how many clear signals it has, and whether they agree.

Limited coverage and blindspots

Stories with fewer than five articles are marked. A blindspot is a contested story where we found coverage from only one side.

Not ideological

Articles that touch none of the three dimensions, such as a car launch or a match report, carry no ideology score.

How often the feed refreshes

This prototype is refreshed by hand (last on 17 Oct, 03:00 IST). At launch:

Wires and the top 20 outletschecked every 5 minutes
All other outletschecked every 15 minutes
New storygoes up at 3 articles from 2 or more outlets, marked Limited coverage
Live storiesnew articles added every 15 minutes; summary rewritten at most hourly
Home page orderevery 15 minutes

Updates are added, never rewritten

New facts go into a dated update log at the top of the story. New articles carry an “Added” tag. If a note or list changes, the earlier version stays viewable.

Live, winding down, archived

A story is Live while coverage arrives, Winding down after about 2 days without new coverage, and Archived after about 7. Sport results skip winding down and are archived after about 2 days, unless police or a court are involved. Nothing is deleted: links never change, archived scores are frozen, and stories stay on their issue pages and in search.

Large outlets missing

NDTV, India Today, Times of India, Hindustan Times, The Hindu, Indian Express, News18, ABP, Times Now and Mint block the reader used for this prototype, so their articles are missing. Each story shows how many of India’s 15 largest outlets we read. The launch pipeline will read outlets’ public feeds, TV transcripts and Hindi articles.

Who is accountable

Editor and grievance officer

Editor-in-charge: S. Kalra, editor@thenazariya.com. The editor-in-charge sets Nazariya's editorial rules, reviews the AI desks' daily decisions, and is responsible for everything we publish.

How we work: AI reads and scores every article against our published rubric; an AI standards desk checks accuracy and fairness; people set the rules, review decisions and handle complaints.

Grievance officer under the IT Rules, 2021: to be confirmed (based in India). Until then, write to grievance@thenazariya.com. Complaints are acknowledged within 24 hours and resolved within 15 days. To report a factual error: corrections@thenazariya.com. Other questions: support@thenazariya.com.

Funding and ownership

Ownership: Nazariya is independently owned by S. Kalra, an Indian citizen.

Funding: Nazariya is currently funded entirely by its founder. It carries no advertising and takes no money from any political party, government or party-linked organisation. In future it will be supported by optional reader memberships. Any other funder, grant or investor will be listed here, with the amount and date.

Independence: No owner, funder or member can change a story, a score or a correction. Scores follow the published rubric, and anyone can appeal them.

Appeals

Anyone, including the outlet that published an article, can appeal a score: tap any score on a story page, then "Appeal this score" to write to the editor. Outlets can also dispute a summary. The editor reviews every appeal, and any change is recorded below. Appeals: appeals@thenazariya.com.

Rules we follow

No detail that could identify a child or a survivor of sexual violence (Juvenile Justice Act, POCSO, BNS section 72). Court cases are reported as what was said and alleged. No analysis of a poll in the 48 hours before voting there (Representation of the People Act, section 126). Press Council and NBDSA norms on communal incidents.

Corrections log

  • 16 Oct · Goregaon toddler death: removed the building's name and an unverified claim about the 10-year-old's health, to protect the child's identity.
  • 16 Oct · India–US trade deal: merged two duplicate story pages into one.
  • 16 Oct · INS Mangrol: one report names the commissioning officer differently from three others; flagged in the story, not resolved.