The meeting was earlier planned to discuss price rise and formulate an action plan to combat it. But as Union agriculture, food and civil supplies minister Sharad Pawar is in Maharashtra and Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee is camping in Kolkata, the meeting has been rescheduled for October 19.
While explaining the steps taken by the government of India to check rising prices, Dr Singh reminded the state governments of their responsibility of keeping prices under control.
If sources in the Congress party are to be believed, a hike in the price of petrol, diesel and cooking gas seems "inevitable".
For the second time in as many months, the Government on Wednesday night cut petrol price by Rs 5 a litre and diesel by Rs 2 per litre, while the domestic LPG rate was also slashed by as much as Rs 25 per cylinder.
According to sources, the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion and Ministry of IT have supported the reserve price of Rs 2,020 crore (Rs 20.2 billion) as was originally recommended by DoT. Last week, the finance ministry had asked the DoT to double the reserve price for pan-India 3G spectrum.
Jaitley did not say if it will be an outright sale or partial divestment.
The government has allowed oil companies to raise diesel price by 50 paise a litre per month; bulk users to be charged market price.
The report on the alleged liquor scam, a hot button issue in the run-up to the elections, claimed a loss of revenue to the tune of Rs 941.53 crore, saying timely permissions were not taken for opening the liquor vends in non-conforming municipal wards.
The cabinet committee on economic affairs will meet this evening to decide on the prices of petrol, diesel, LPG and kerosene, petroleum minister Mani Shankar Aiyar said.
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has approved the purchase of 68 aircraft by the country's flagship carrier Air India, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said on Thursday.
The government has approved a hike in natural gas prices by 12 per cent to Rs 3,200 per thousand standard cubic meters from Rs 2,850 for power and fertiliser units.
The government on Wednesday rolled back its decision to hike LPG price by Rs 5 every month.
According to unconfirmed reports, North India has seen a Rs 3 hike. A Delhi-based dealer said the companies had told him that the price would go up by Rs 5 a bag in a day or two. "The companies raised wholesale prices and we passed on the burden to consumers," said a Mumbai-based dealer who did not want to be named. The present retail price in Mumbai is Rs 274 per bag. Market sources said Chennai had seen a hike of Rs 3.
Promising to keep prices down ahead of the festival season, the government on Friday said it would ensure adequate supply of essential commodities and take more fiscal and monetary steps to contain inflation
The oil ministry is in fact of the view that the government should bear the entire burden of the revenue losses incurred by the oil marketing companies, after the increase in prices is effected.
Sources say that this is a part of the government's efforts to mitigate the spurt in global oil prices.
Speaking at the function, Nath asked exporters to provide inputs for a mechanism for refund of local taxes to them. "We are in the process of formulating the scheme and will incorporate valid suggestions from exporters," he said.
Finance Minister P Chidambaram said on Thursday that the government would ensure ample supplies of essential commodities including food grains to check prices and assured more fiscal steps to contain inflationary pressures.
It is more than certain that coal supply is a major constraint on power production; and power is a major constraint on industrial growth.
In a move to protect the interests of national oil companies against the fluctuations in global crude prices, the government on Monday decided to grant these PSUs limited freedom to fix petrol and diesel prices.
The government on Monday raised the price of ethanol for blending with fuel at Rs 27 per litre from existing Rs 21.50 per litre.
The Cabinet on Wednesday gave in-principle approval for strategic disinvestment along with transfer of management control in IDBI Bank in line with the Budget announcement earlier this year. The central government and LIC together own more than 94 per cent equity of IDBI Bank. LIC, currently the promoter of IDBI Bank with management control, has a 49.21 per cent stake. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved the strategic sale of IDBI Bank, an official statement said on Wednesday.
The decision to increase the minimum support price of various grades of paddy and different pulses was taken at a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs. The support price for common paddy will now stand at Rs 950 a quintal, while the A-grade variety would get Rs 980 per quintal -- an increase of Rs 100 a quintal for both.
The decision was taken by the Cabinet Committee on Prices, chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New Delhi.
Gail India subsidiary Mahanagar Gas (MGL) on Friday announced a steep reduction in the retail price of compressed natural gas (CNG) by Rs 8/kg and domestic PNG (piped natural gas) by Rs 5/SCM across its licenced area. The move comes on the heels of the Centre revising the pricing methodology of domestically-produced natural gas on Thursday as proposed by the Kirit Parikh committee and following it with the new price announcement earlier in the day. In February, the city gas distributor reduced its CNG price by Rs 2.5/kg but prices are still around 80 per cent more than those in April last.
Declaring the Telangana government's support to the Telugu film industry, Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy on Thursday said the former would take steps to make Hyderabad a destination for international film shootings.
Disinvestment Minister Arun Shourie said Tuesday the SEBI has initiated an investigation into the fall of share prices of BPCL and HPCL.
'I had to persuade him. I think he was a sceptic to begin with, but later on he was convinced that what we were doing was the right thing to do, that there was no other way out.'
'The AMs are a different beast and reflect the political play within the government.' 'Prime Minister Modi does not need to assuage any interest group to take the final call on any decision that belongs rightfully to the Cabinet,' points out Subhomoy Bhattacharjee.
The government will decide on increasing petrol, diesel, LPG and kerosene prices within the next 24-48 hours.
The new bill will now be introduced in the Lok Sabha for passage in the upcoming Winter session of Parliament beginning November 29.
EPS has had its way on most things, alliance-wise. A week earlier, he reiterated that he would not re-admit OPS and Sasikala Natarajan back in the party. It was a message not just to detractors in the AIADMK. It was even more so for the BJP leadership in Delhi. Even more important for the AIADMK was their demand for accepting EPS as the chief ministerial candidate of any alliance that the party would form, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
'The BJP lacks a credible mass leader who matches Mamata Banerjee's popularity.' 'Given the division of votes among Opposition parties, the West Bengal government's dole-giving strategy, and the consolidation of the poor, significant sections of scheduled caste groups and Muslim minorities behind the ruling party, it will be difficult to dislodge the Trinamool from power.'
"The Union cabinet is likely to take up on Wednesday, November 24 the withdrawal of the three farm laws for approval. The bills for withdrawal of the laws shall then be introduced in the forthcoming Parliament session," sources in the government told ANI.
'Since September 1, a senior cabinet minister has been to-ing and fro-ing between Jalna and Mumbai by chartered flight every single day with messages from the two deputy chief ministers and the chief minister to get Manoj Jarange-Patil to back down from his agitation.'
Pakistan's newly-elected President Asif Ali Zardari on Tuesday announced that he would not draw any salary during his tenure as part of his bid to help the cash-strapped country face the challenging economic hardship.
While markets are upbeat over the government decision to nearly double the price of domestically produced natural gas, industry wants it to clearly lay the roadmap for free market pricing regime.
'Mrs Gandhi had nothing to do in the day-to-day working of Dr Singh's government.' 'People say Mrs Gandhi's office used to give orders, which is nonsense.'
Reason behind for the change in his stance: gas price increase.
