More than half of the total subsidy provisioning, amounting to 54 per cent, is going towards food subsidy, which is estimated at Rs 184,220 crore for 2019-20 - a 7.5 per cent increase over the revised estimates for 2018-19.
One person was killed and at least nine others were injured when a three-storey residential building collapsed following an explosion in a cooking gas cylinder in Moti Nagar in Delhi on Wednesday morning.
Prices of food items like cereals, pulses, and edible oils rose or remained steady in May, a Reserve Bank of India (RBI) report said, indicating there could be another higher inflation print. However, it observed that the Monetary Policy Committee's (MPC's) surprise move to increase interest rates bodes well for its credibility. The RBI's monthly State of the Economy report, released on Tuesday, citing high frequency food price data from the Ministry of Consumer Affairs for the period May 1-12, said the increase in the prices of cereals was primarily because of the surge in wheat prices.
If only you had thought ahead, you would have stocked snacks and biscuits, bread and cake, and vegetables suited for Amma or pondatti to make your favourite bajji and pakoda, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Criticising BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi for advocating the Gujarat model of development, Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi dismissed it, saying the same formula could not be applied to all states in the country.
A hike in diesel and domestic LPG prices has been deferred for now, but an increase in petrol prices later this week looks imminent.
Worried about the adverse impact that price rise could cause to Congress' prospects in Lok Sabha polls, Rahul Gandhi unveiled quick fix policy prescriptions for 12 party-ruled states including reform in PDS and giving farmers a wider choice to sell vegetables and fruits.
State-owned fuel retailers IOC, BPCL and HPCL are likely to lose Rs 65,000 crore on selling diesel, domestic LPG and kerosene below cost during the current fiscal, Oil Minister Murli Deora said on Wednesday.
India's water future remains very bleak. The monsoon season, which once extended to 4 months, is now down to less than 30 days of heavy rain.
The Cabinet, scheduled to meet on Thursday, may reduce petrol price by Rs 5 a litre, diesel by Rs 3 per litre and domestic LPG by Rs 25 per cylinder, giving relief to the common man and further easing inflationary pressures.
Of the 170 million rural households in the country, a government website claims to have connected 82 per cent of them. The metered households are 50 per cent of the total. As on February, 2018, of the 780,000 villages to be intensively electrified or provide connection to all in households, 493,000 have been covered. However, the amount and quality of the power supply cannot be ascertained from this data. No clause in any of the rural electrification programmes promises 24 hours' power supply.
Jet fuel prices on Wednesday were hiked by over 18 per cent -- the steepest ever increase -- to all-time high levels after international oil price surged to a multi-year high.
'...because the party is based on the Constitution.'
Modi also pitched for a social movement to ensure the safety of women and girls.
These notes can be used at government hospitals, railway ticketing, public transport, airline ticketing at airports, milk booths, crematoria/burial grounds, petrol pumps, metro rail tickets, purchase of medicines on doctor prescription from the government and private pharmacies, LPG gas cylinders, railway catering, electricity and water bills and ASI monument entry tickets. Highway toll has been scrapped till November 14.
These are initiatives not commonly seen in economic administration.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday termed the hike in rail fares as "unprecedented and anti-people" and demanded its roll back in the interest of common people.
The staggered increase in kerosene rate may not have the same impact of freeing up the fuel price as for diesel.
The Congress had on Friday extended support to the countrywide 'chakka jam' called by the farmer unions, saying party workers will stand shoulder to shoulder with farmers in their protest.
Modi accuses Congress of spreading 'lies, confusion and pessimism'
The cabinet on Friday discussed the fuel price increase in the context of the surge in international oil prices.
The Left parties on Friday asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for a rollback in petroleum prices and said the Budget should conform with the Common Minimum Programme.
The government has allowed oil companies to raise diesel price by 50 paise a litre per month; bulk users to be charged market price.
'We have the more difficult reforms to do such as the reduction of subsidy, the insurance and pension sector reform, eliminating bureaucratic red tape and implementing Goods and Services Tax'
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 outcome is beyond the market's expectation and will be a sentimental boost, say analysts.
Financial services majors Citi and HSBC said the long awaited government decision to hike fuel prices is a positive step, although it will fan the already high inflation and may not prevent fiscal slippage.
Indian Oil Corp, the nation's largest fuel retailer, positioned adequate stocks of all petroleum products -- petrol, diesel, kerosene and LPG in the state.
Dr APJ Abdul Kalam believes India can transform herself into a developed nation by the year 2020. The young people of India, headed by a creative leader, can help us reach this goal, says the former President.
Away from limelight, Jeevika Didis are silently fighting the coronavirus in rural Bihar.
For the seven months since February 2014, the benchmark index surged nearly 27%.
A total of 1.71 lakh earthen lamps were lit up at the grand event while a chopper decorated as the mythological 'Pushpak Viman' descended on the Ram Katha Park with artistes decked up to resemble Lord Ram, Sita and Laxman.
A CRPF vehicle had suffered slight damage when a Santro car went up in flames after an explosion at Tethar village, seven km from Banihal, shortly after a Jammu-bound convoy crossed the Jawahar Tunnel, the gateway to Kashmir valley.
The demand for black oils and specialty products like fuel oil, bitumen, petcoke and sulphur has also shown marked improvement, facilitating increase of refineries throughput.
'The last four years was not Dravidian rule, it was BJP rule by proxy.'
Curfew-like situation prevailed in East Delhi's Trilokpuri area for the third consecutive day with people not being allowed to step out of their houses though no untoward incident took place in the violence-hit locality on Monday
But demand has shown signs of pick up in the last 10 days of April after the government allowed resumption of economic activity beyond the urban municipal limit.
Declining crude price translates into lower under-recoveries for OMCs
Since August, petrol price has been cumulatively cut by Rs 9.36 per litre.
Petroleum Minister Murli Deora on Monday ruled out any rollback in the increased prices of petroleum products, saying the hike has been reasonable and minimum. "The hike is reasonable and minimum ...," Deora told reporters here.
