Most of the Budget work is done; only some "final touches" remain. For those, he will soon sit with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh--who was governor of the Reserve Bank during Mukherjee's stint in North Block in the 80s--before his draft speech goes to print.
CPI-M general secretary Prakash Karat points out that states like Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh have imposed a formal ban on the Naxalite organisations long ago. "But has the situation improved there? Their situation is similar to that of West Bengal," Karat told Business Standard.
The government is planning to relaunch the eighth phase of bidding for oil and gas blocks under the New Exploration and Licensing Policy (Nelp-VIII) in the second week of August.
Leaders from other state units are coming to VS's aid ahead of the party's crucial Central Committee meeting even as some ministers of his Cabinet have refused to work with him.
Among the aam aadmi measures, leaders sought an increase in the minimum support price mainly for sugarcane, income tax relief to the salaried class and more benefits to senior citizens. Suggestions were also made to increase subsidy for diesel for farmers and fishermen. Soft loans for minorities and SC/STs were also demanded. But issues like disinvestment, SEZ amendments, insurance bill or financial sector reforms were not discussed.
The ambitious project of the urban development ministry, pegged at Rs 4,676 crore, was originally scheduled to be completed in 2015. It is to be executed through a joint venture company of the central and state government. Equity participation of the state and central government will be on a 50:50 basis. But soon after taking charge of the railway ministry, Banerjee had a talk with Union Urban Development Minister S Jaipal Reddy about her apprehensions.
The Union Cabinet is likely to review prices of petrol and diesel as crude oil price continue to move northward.
Indian Oil Corporation, the country's largest oil marketing company, has put on hold its plan to set up a 15-million tonne refinery at Haldia due to the economic downturn.
Last year, she drove the Tata Motors' Nano factory out from West Bengal. Three days ago, Trinamool Congress chief and Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee turned down another Tata offer a donation of Rs 27,70,660 to her party from the Tata Sons Electoral Trust.
The gas price revision will add to the bottomline of the two public sector companies -- Oil and Natural Gas Corporation and Oil India Ltd -- and will also yield additional revenue for the central and state governments.
Cairn India is open to buying the 30 per cent stake that government-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation owns in its oil block in Rajasthan. Cairn India is the operator of the block, with 70 per cent ownership currently.
International crude oil prices crossed the $60 a barrel mark yesterday--up from a record low of $32.40 in December last year--on the back of improved sentiment over the economic recovery, especially in China and Europe.
As the sun slowly sets behind the skyline of factory buildings, a group of women enters the Vasantham Textiles mill in this industrial town. They position themselves behind their respective sewing machines to stitch T-shirts. But many machines in another corner of the large hall remain unattended.
Petronet LNG, which operates a recently expanded ten-million-tonne gas regassification plant in Dahej on the west coast, is exploring a swap option with the gas from the Krishna-Godavari field (K-G D6) on the east coast owned by Reliance Industries Ltd.
The ministry of petroleum has approached the finance ministry to seek permission to give additional bonds worth Rs 10,000 crore to the three public sector oil marketing companies --Indian Oil Corporation, Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd--to help them close the last fiscal with a profit.
The Appellate Tribunal for Electricity has admitted the OMCs' plea challenging the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board's power to adjudicate on the matter.
To prevent sugar prices from becoming a tool in the hands of opposition parties in the parliamentary elections, the government has allowed government agencies like MMTC, STC, NAFED and PEC to import one million tonne of white sugar duty-free. The export obligation on raw sugar imports under open general licence scheme has also been removed.
The initial cost of the reserve, expected to become operational by 2012, was estimated at Rs 2,400 crore (Rs 24 billion), excluding the cost of crude oil. Strategic Petroleum Reserves Ltd, special purpose vehicle that is implementing the project, has asked Engineers India Ltd to work on the revised cost," said sources. EIL is the management consultant for this project.
If the Third Front -- currently comprising nine parties opposed to both the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party -- manages to get more seats than the Congress, the Communist Party of India - Marxist led Left Front will work towards ensuring that the next prime minister is made from this bloc.But if the Congress' own tally turns out to be larger than the cumulative strength of the alternative-seekers, the Left will support a Congressman for the top slot.
The food-price segment in the WPI has been growing at 8.3 per cent, much higher than the rise in the index for manufactured articles. In fact, segments like minerals and fuel have witnessed a decline in the WPI and have pulled the inflation down. The rise in food prices affects the common man more than the increase in prices of any other item.
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