India's leading agri commodity bourse - the National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange said on Monday that its trading volumes have been hit by the ban on futures trading in pulses, wheat and rice.
On Thursday, five state governments -- Gujarat, Delhi, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh -- notified the Essential Services Maintenance Act to ensure smooth supply of essential commodities. Though the truck operations in most of the key industrial and manufacturing states continued normally, truck operators in some parts of the nation resorted to violence to enforce the strike.
The stage of alert will be based on positivity rate (on two consecutive days), cumulative number of new cases (over a week) and average oxygenated-bed occupancy (for a week).
Tata Motors on Tuesday said it will increase prices of its passenger vehicles by an average of 0.9 per cent with effect from January 19, in order to partially offset the impact of rise in input costs. The Mumbai-based automaker sells various models like Tiago, Punch and Harrier, in the domestic market. Effective January 19, 2022, an average increase of 0.9 per cent will be implemented, depending on the variant and model, the automaker said in a statement.
Be it inflation, petrol price, corruption or scams, the UPA's progress report has been dismal.
The steel ministry has asked its finance counterpart to expedite the implementation of the measures that have been decided but not implemented yet to contain steel prices.
A Sri Lankan parliamentarian of the ruling party of the Rajapaksas and his personal security officer were killed on Monday in clashes between anti- and pro-government protesters in the country.
Dominic Xavier asks if the bills will really benefit farmers or if this is a ploy by the Modi government to push the agricultural sector towards privatisation.
'The President of India, as advised by the prime minister, has accepted the resignation of Harsimrat Kaur Badal from the Union Council of Ministers, with immediate effect,' the Rashtrapati Bhavan said in a statement.
An expert committee, whose report is being awaited by the government to decide whether futures trading on essential commodities should be banned, has found no firm evidence that such trading was leading to rise in prices. An expert committee under the chairmanship of Planning Commission member Abhijit Sen to study the impact of futures trading on prices of agricultural commodities. Delisting of tur, urad rice and wheat from the futures market has not affected price movement.
Trade between India and Bangladesh via land ports came to a standstill on Sunday as there was no movement of cargo trucks to and fro due to the ongoing student protests in the neighbouring country, officials said. The Bangladeshi side of the Petrapole landport remained non-functional, they said. Nearly one-third of land-based trade between India and Bangladesh takes place through Petrapole.
Transporters on Thursday said they will surrender about 700 truck permits in the National Capital with the government toughening its stand and refusing to meet their demands as the strike entered the fourth day.
Truckers stayed off the road for the second today, demanding lower diesel prices and permit fee, squeezing supplies of essential commodities that gave way to panic buying across markets.
Expressing concerns over rising prices of essential commodities globally, Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Friday favoured adjustments in domestic policies to contain inflation. Pointing to global oil prices touching new highs, the finance minister said: "It is important to factor in price increase and adjust our policies so that inflation doesn't get out of hand."
Cries of help were forwarded through the night, as Chennaiites, who waded through a similar nightmare in 2015, reconnected online again and formed citizen rescue groups to deal with emergencies.
In his letter dated December 28, issued from his native village Ralegan Siddhi of Maharashtra's Ahmednagar district, he said, that he has decided to again sit protest in Delhi from next month.
The GST Council, in its meeting on Saturday, is likely to decide on reducing tax rates on life and health insurance premiums, while hiking it on high-end wrist watches, shoes and apparels, besides considering a separate 35 per cent tax slab for sin goods. The 55th meeting of the GST Council, chaired by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and comprising state counterparts, is likely to discuss rate rejig in about 148 items, besides, it will also deliberate on bringing Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF), a major component for airline industry's operation cost, in the Goods and Services Tax (GST) fold.
As COVID-19 cases are on the rise in Tamil Nadu, Palaniswami on Friday had announced a complete shutdown beginning Sunday in Chennai, Coimbatore and Madurai for four days, disallowing grocery shops as well and fully curtailing movement of the public.
Tomar and Parkash, along with their ministerial colleague Piyush Goyal, had led the government's negotiations with the protesting farmers.
India uses the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) to calculate and then decide the inflation rate in the economy. Most developed countries use the Consumer Price Index (CPI) to calculate inflation.
The consequences are dire as essential medical treatments, including dialysis, and medicines for cancer and anti-AIDS drugs remain out of reach for those in desperate need.
The Re 1 cut in diesel prices could lead Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav to announce a reduction in passenger fares in the forthcoming Railway Budget.
A complete lockdown will be imposed in Nagpur City police commissionerate area from March 15 to March 21 over the spread of Covid-19, the administration has announced.
'It is only under the BJP that laws are made and unmade without prior Cabinet approval'
2012 was a year of disaster, both man-made and natural, in Mizoram and an acute shortage of essential commodities throughout the year added to people's woes while the vexed issue of repatriation of Bru refugees continued to haunt the government.
The Congress has decided to hold its public rally against inflation in Jaipur on December 12 after the Delhi Police denied it permission to host the rally in the national capital.
Farmers protesting the contentious farm laws will hold demonstrations outside the residences of Bharatiya Janata Party lawmakers across the country on Saturday, a Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) office-bearer said.
However, the farmers are still protesting, demanding a law on MSP. Besides MSP, the farmers are also demanding a resolution for the livelihood of the families of the 700 farmers who died while protesting against the three farm laws.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi asked on Monday the government to keep the prices of essential commodities under check.
The party said its government has taken a number of initiatives since its formation including tough action against hoarders and limiting export prices of essential commodities like onion, rice and wheat.
Underscoring price stability, more importantly for the poor, he said the government will use its foodgrains stocks to moderate prices and enhance imports of essential commodities.
The leaders later submitted to the government, what they said, were over 5 crore signatures collected during a two-month long nationwide campaign on these demands. The signatures on the charter of demands were delivered on a truck.
The farmers' union had been camping at the Dalit Prerna Sthal since December 2, demanding withdrawal of the three new farm laws, legalisation of minimum support price (MSP) for crops and implementation of the recommendation of Swaminathan Committee's report.
Rising prices of essential commodities have dampened the Eid shopping
BJP National Secretary Kirit Somaiya alleged the current rupee dollar fluctuation was a major scam and it needed to be investigated by an expert group on a par with special investigation team.
On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate the economic achievements of the government?
The term of the committee that the Manmohan Singh government has set up to study the impact of futures trading in agricultural commodities on price rise is being extended.
The government will amend the six-and-a-half-decade old Essential Commodities Act to deregulate food items, including cereals, edible oil, oilseeds, pulses, onion and potato, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Friday. The amendment, besides deregulating production and sale of food products, will provide for no stock limit to be imposed on any produce.
"Rahul Gandhi along with opposition leaders met President and submitted the memorandum to resolve farmers' issue. But there was no action from the President and the government. Rahul Gandhi will lead demonstration tomorrow at 10:45 am from Vijay Chowk to Rashtrapati Bhavan with Congress MPs," Suresh said.
Prices of essential commodities, including foodgrains, have surged 8-10 per cent in just three days, because of deficient rains and on concerns that the farm output this kharif season would be hit badly.
