By the looks of it, the Congress cannot hope to return to power even in election 2024. What it can do is to start from the bottom, hold organisational elections, which are honest, and co-opt those elected to form teams of office-bearers at all levels, right up to the working committee. By the very nature of the elections that they are going to lose, the party should use the interim to shore up youth power, or whatever remains, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
The Department of Disinvestment, which is looking at mopping up Rs 40,000 crore (Rs 400 billion) from the sale of shares in public sector units this fiscal, has raised about Rs 1,325 crore (Rs 13.25 billion) so far.
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India, which is 79 per cent dependent on imports to meet its crude oil needs, is building underground storage at Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh and Mangalore and Padur in Karnataka.
Petroleum minister M Veerappa Moily would like to import 11 million tonnes of Iranian crude in this financial year.
Govt's decision comes two days after the National Green Tribunal had warned of strict action if clarity was not provided on the issue.
Insisting that Vijay Mallya was not given even "a rupee benefit" under the Modi government, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday said that loans were reportedly given to the businessman during the previous United Progressive Alliance rule through intervention of the North Block, a reference to the finance ministry.
The government had in May last year disallowed $1.005 billion expense of RIL on the flagging KG-D6 gas fields for not implementing the approved field development plan.
Launching a fresh broadside at Oil Minister M Veerappa Moily, CPI leader and MP Gurudas Dasgupta on Tuesday said no action has been taken against Reliance Industries for deliberately keeping natural gas output low and is instead being rewarded by a steep hike in prices.
Delhi Police claims that the FIR reveals serious cognizable corruption & cheating offences, so matter is within its jurisdiction.
The decision marks first successful policy intervention.
It was a changed scenario in the new Lok Sabha with the churning brought out by the elections throwing in contrasts.
Moily asserted that Gandhi continues to be the AICC president and he has not stepped down.
Perhaps the way forward could be the introduction of uniform rating standards - on the lines of accounting standards for the accounting profession - with a separate regulating authority for enforcing those standards, says Sudipto Dey.
In the face of strong opposition to Uniform Civil Code by Muslim outfits, the Congress on Thursday said its implementation would be impossible while the Bharatiya Janata Party asserted that the move is aimed at moving towards a progressive society.
Training his guns on BJP's prime ministerial candidate again over the Reliance gas issue, the Aam Aadmi Party on Friday asked Narendra Modi whether he will bring down the gas price if he comes to power.
The cost of CNG, which will be reduced by up to Rs 15 per kg in the next few days following a rejig in natural gas allocation, will go up by Rs 10.6 a kg in April, when domestic gas prices almost double.
M Veerappa Moily's takeover of the environment & forests ministry last month, it appears, is turning out to be a blessing for Coal India Ltd (CIL), the world's largest coal producer.
Reliance Industries Ltd on Thursday told the Delhi High Court that the Delhi government's decision to probe the Centre's policy on gas pricing was a "peculiar" and "absurd" situation.
Government has put on auction the gas discovery area it snatched from Reliance Industries in KG-D6 block and the field that Cairn India is seeking to regain around its Rajasthan block.
The likely solution that appears before the AAP government is to seek for a higher quota of domestic natural gas for Delhi, which would bring down auto and cooking gas prices.
The government-appointed Kirit Parikh committee suggested an 'immediately' hike prices of diesel by Rs 5 a litre, Rs 4 per litre in kerosene and Rs 250 per cylinder in LPG, reduce annual entitlement of subsidised cooking gas cylinder from six from nine and phase out diesel subsidy in one year to cut a record subsidy burden.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to hear a plea seeking stay on arbitration proceedings on a dispute between Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) and the government over recovery of cost for developing the country's key natural gas field in the Krishna-Godavari (KG) basin.
In the second phase on April 18, 97 seats,spread across 13 states and one Union Territory, will go to the polls.
Indian Oil Corporation, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation and Bharat Petroleum Corporation are losing Rs 486 crore (Rs 4.86 billion) per day as they are made to sell diesel, domestic LPG and kerosene way below cost to keep inflation under check.
Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) has refuted the allegation in the Supreme Court that it is deliberately reducing production of gas in KG basin in anticipation of a higher gas price and said it has taken all steps for arbitration proceedings with Centre to sort out all disputes.
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While the Cabinet has approved doubling of gas price from April 1 next year, Oil Ministry is proposing that old rates of $4.2 per million British thermal unit apply to gas from D1/D3 and MA fields in eastern offshore KG-D6 block till it proved that RIL had proved less than targets only because of geological factors.
Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi's leadership has come under attack. Although the party tried to dismiss the rebellion brewing in Congress-ruled states of Assam in the east and Maharashtra in the west, no one is convinced.
There were mixed reactions from parties to Markandey Katju's charge that three ex-chief justices of India had compromised in giving extension and elevation to an additional judge of Madras high court at UPA government's instance, with some including All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam demanding a probe while others questioned the timing of his disclosure.
RBI has cited at least 10 areas where it has no control over PSBs.
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Following adverse media reaction to the June 27 decision of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, the finance ministry had issued an office memorandum asking the petroleum ministry to see if there was a way to make RIL clear its gas supply backlog at the existing price.
The Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH) had recommended to the ministry that RIL be asked to give up 86% of its KG-D6 gas block area
Party leaders, sources said, maintained that Congress cannot afford to have a new leader at the helm for rebuilding the organisation at this juncture and that the responsibility for the defeat is collective and not individual.
'It was a moment when I felt what power can get. Such a reception was beyond my expectation.'
Talk that Anil Kumble, the former Indian captain, will contest the forthcoming Lok Sabha election from Karnataka has been making the rounds. Rediff.com's Vicky Nanjappa finds out if Kumble will indeed spin a political googly.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday dedicated GAIL India Ltd's 1,000 km Dabhol-Bangalore natural gas pipeline to the nation.
'Somewhere in the midst of the three milestones of 1881, 1984 and 1999 are the clues that provide the answer to the troubling corrosion of Karnataka politics: The disappearance of values, the criminalisation of politics, and the complete collapse of ideology,' says Krishna Prasad, former editor-in-chief, Outlook.
Reliance Industries would repair a third of the wells shut at its main gas field in the eastern offshore KG-D6 block to boost output in the first quarter of 2014.
Increase in first half of FY14 comes despite a fall in average crude prices; weak rupee helps.
Amidst a storm over proposal to shut petrol pumps during night to taper fuel demand, Oil Minister M Veerappa Moily on Monday said the government had not made any such proposal and the idea had come from public.
While Rahul loyalists were keen that he be given the post, a leader known to be close to him said, "If he does not become the leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha, then he should quit politics."
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