As the assembly elections are on the way in Tamil Nadu, the major parties have promised for reduction in the price of goods.
Petrol price on Sunday was hiked by 50 paise a litre and diesel by 55 paise, taking the total increase in rates since resumption of daily price revision less than a week back to Rs 3.70-3.75 per litre. Petrol in Delhi will now cost Rs 99.11 per litre as against Rs 98.61 previously while diesel rates have gone up from Rs 89.87 per litre to Rs 90.42, according to a price notification of state fuel retailers. Rates have been increased across the country and vary from state to state depending upon the incidence of local taxation.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi has said the government must ensure that the prices of essential commodities remain affordable for the aam aadmi (common man). In a 'Letter to Congresspersons' in the latest issue of the party mouthpiece, she also put the onus of controlling price rise on the state governments, saying they should strengthen the public distribution system and control black marketing and hoarding.
States are apprehensive of losing their rights to raise revenue during emergencies.
A Mercedes-Maybach S650 Guard was recently added to the prime minister's cavalcade by the Special Protection Group.
The month-long winter session of Parliament, which begins on Wednesday, is expected to be a stormy one with opposition parties determined to corner the government on several issues, including the issue of demonetising Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes, which has caused massive outrage across the nation.
Ending the fortnight-long deadlock, the Aam Aadmi Party on Monday staked claim to form the government in the national capital with outside support from the Congress which it had trounced in the December 4 assembly polls.
Reaching out to tribals, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday lauded their contribution to Indian culture through the ages and said Lord Ram drew inspiration from them during his exile as he slammed the Congress for "neglecting" adivasis during its previous rules.
Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar on Wednesday said that the price of milk would increase, as there is a scarcity of milk in north India.
The Congress on Friday termed as "biggest joke", the BJP's announcement of six candidates for the next Lok Sabha elections.
He said there should be no politics on the issue as it relates to the rights of Muslim women.
Angry over the 'steep hike' in fuel prices, the United Progressive Alliance's Left allieson Wednesday demanded a review of the decision as it announced a week-long nationwide agitation to protest the "unjustified burden" imposed on the common man.
Uddhav said there was no point in Modi becoming emotional at a time when people have tears in their eyes.
Ravi Shankar Prasad, spokesman of the Bharatiya Janata Party, who has been given the task of looking after the Assembly elections in Chattisgarh, accused the Centre of betraying the common man by allowing steep rise in the prices of essential commodities and putting the country into an era of food insecurity.
Gandhi had earlier tweeted about a smiling Modi during the latter's visit to Japan recently.
Union Ministers Arun Jaitley and Venkaiah Naidu have also spoken to Thackeray.
'The Congress has collapsed and is fighting for survival. Other parties carry no weight in comparison to the BJP. This situation does not augur well for democracy,'
Demanding cancellation of the paper, MP Congress spokesperson Neelabh Shukla in a statement said, "It is highly objectionable that DAVV coloured the examination of important faculty like journalism in BJP's hues. The students of this subject should be taught party neutrality in a higher education institute."
Taking a jibe over bickering in Bharatiya Janata Party on Narendra Modi's nomination as prime ministerial candidate, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Monday claimed that the party would not gain from the decision and empathised with L K Advani saying the "Iron man" has been left to "rust".
The BJP accused the Congress governments at the Centre and state of 'betraying' the common man by failing to check price rise and of 'divisive' vote bank politics.
With this kind of coinage, the Opposition seems to be readily conceding the point that Modi is taller than all of them put together. So they need something bigger than themselves, collectively or not, to capture the voter imagination when it is about taking on Modi and the BJP in 2024, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
"Hum saath hain (we are together) is the message we want to give," Uddhav said.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has apologised for the Canadian Parliament's recognition of a man who fought for a Nazi unit during World War II, an incident that drew global condemnation and was termed by the Opposition as the 'biggest single diplomatic embarrassment' in the country's history.
The 69-year-old leader, who is in the custody of the Enforcement Directorate, was taken to ESI hospital at Joka on the southern outskirts of Kolkata for a medical-check up during the day.
After Rajasthan, petrol price on Thursday crossed the Rs 100 per litre mark in Madhya Pradesh after fuel rates were increased for the tenth day in a row. Petrol price was hiked by 34 paise per litre and diesel by 32 paise, according to a price notification of state-owned fuel retailers. While branded or additive-laced petrol, which attracts higher taxes, had crossed the Rs 100-mark in some places in states like Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, regular petrol crossed the physiological mark in Sriganganagar town of Rajasthan on Wednesday, and on Thursday it went past that mark in Madhya Pradesh. In Anuppur of Madhya Pradesh, petrol is priced at Rs 100.25 per litre and diesel at Rs 90.35. Fuel prices differ from state to state depending on the incidence of local taxes such as VAT and freight charges.
Gandhi took to Twitter to condemn the incident without naming anyone, a day after Haryana BJP chief Subhash Barala's son, Vikas and his friend Ashish Kumar were arrested for allegedly stalking the girl and released on bail soon after.
Every Budget proposal must be carefully evaluated and people should not be impressed by any last minute bonanza after suffering for four years, says Former Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha.
Modi: Journey of a Common Man is blatant propaganda, feels Utkarsh Mishra.
Only a Central Bureau of Investigation probe will reveal the truth behind the Vyapam scam in Madhya Pradesh, the whistlebowers in the case feel.
'The central government forces are supporting one group and the state government forces are supporting another group and this is resulting in non-stop cross-firing, which has resulted in the killing of many innocent people.'
Imran Khan on Sunday announced that his party will resume the march to Islamabad from the same spot where he survived an assassination attempt but sustained bullet injuries during a rally in Punjab province, saying he prefers 'death instead of living the life of a slave'.
In spite of his trying hard he is unable to connect not only with ordinary voters but with most party colleagues as well, observes Virendra Kapoor.
Following the incident, the police registered a case against 40-year-old Vivekanand Vaishya, Morba police station inspector Ashok Singh Parihar said.
The Bharatiya Janata Party's Uttar Pradesh vice president Arvind Kumar Sharma will be reaching out to residents of western UP with public meetings in Noida, Greater Noida and Bulandshahr from Friday.
Govt puts populist schemes on fast track.
From Saha joining the saffron party in 2016 to being made chief minister last year in a brand renewal exercise last year, it has been a short but upward journey for the 69-year-old dental surgeon-turned politician.
'You can attack and conspire to weaken us, but you cannot destroy the Congress permanently.'
Congress member E M Sudarsana Natchiappan said by marching to the Divisional Commissioner's office in Jhansi to know why people were being deprived of their right to employment under the NREGS, Rahul Gandhi had proved himself to be 'Yuvraj of people and the Yuvraj of my party'.
The boy from Kanpur kept his audiences in theatres, on television and lately on social media platforms engaged with vivid societal sketches, be it about travelling in Mumbai's famous locals or lampooning queues at wedding buffets.
On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate the economic achievements of the government?
