In the midst of a war of words between the two countries, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao on Wednesday expressed his desire to meet his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh.The Chinese leader's remarks come a day after Beijing raked up its claim over Arunachal Pradesh, questioning Prime Minister Singh's visit there on October 3. India hit back on Wednesday, reacting strongly to Chinese plans to get involved in projects in Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir.
Sudan, which had in 2007 defaulted on payment of installments towards the cost of building 741-km pipeline from Khatroum to Port au Sudan, agreed to form a working group to resolve the issue within a month, sources said.
The union government is planning to release about 5.5 crore new LPG connections over the next five years, petroleum and natural gas minister Murli Deora said.
The National Democratic Alliance on Thursday termed the Presidential address to the joint session of Parliament as "totally disappointing" and said there was "nothing new" in it.
The finance ministry has offered less than half of the Rs 31,700 crore (Rs 317 billion) sought by the oil ministry to make up for revenue losses incurred by the state-owned retailers on sale of LPG and kerosene. Petroleum Minister Murli Deora on Thursday met Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee to seek compensation for the public sector oil firms for their losses but the meeting remained inconclusive.
Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Dr Murli Manohar Joshi has backed Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav's demand that the Centre should convene all-party meeting to discuss the Sino-Indian border issue.
Rajan said it is hard to offer an objective self-assessment but the RBI should probably have raised more flags about the quality of lending in the early days of banking exuberance.
Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leaders are not on talking terms with expelled leader Jaswant Singh after he refused to resign from the chairmanship of the Public Accounts Committee of the Parliament, Union minister Murli Deora claimed on Friday. The Petroleum and Natural Gas minister, who is heading a high-level delegation to London, said senior BJP leaders, including L K Advani, Sushma Swaraj and Murali Manohar Joshi, are not on talking terms with their former colleague.
Petroleum Minister Murli Deora on Monday launched the service, which will be initially available in the national capital and would be extended to other metropolitan cities, state capitals and towns.
Could the defeat of Vasundhara Raje, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, and Raman Singh in last year's polls in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Chhattisgarh, respectively, augur a transition in the command structure of these states, where they reigned supreme?
Though the government had earlier this year explicitly decided to compensate Indian Oil, Hindustan Petroleum and Bharat Petroleum for the losses they incur on selling domestic liquid petroleum gas and kerosene through public distribution system by way of oil bonds, the finance ministry has not issued any bonds for the three quarters.
After a breakfast meeting between Mohan Bhagwat and L K Advani, the RSS today said that it has been assured by BJP that its leaders will resolve all problems faced by the party, including the leadership crisis, unitedly.
Despite the hype over the possible candidature of All India Congress Committee General Secretary Digvijaya Singh for the Varanasi Lok Sabha seat, the Congress has narrowed down its choice to local legislator Ajay Rai and former party MP Rajesh Mishra, with the former emerging as a front runner.
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat on Saturday stepped up efforts to rescue the Bharatiya Janata Party from its current crisis, by possibly discussing a road map ahead, as he held hectic parleys with L K Advani and top leaders including Murli Manohar Joshi.There were indications that the BJP could come out with some statement on Sunday but Sangh Parivar sources said nothing spectacular could be expected.
The Petroleum Ministry has allocated additional natural gas from Reliance Industries' eastern offshore gas fields to three power plants to meet electricity deficit in northern states reeling under drought.
Had the government intervened at the right time, the controversy over an MoU that provides for dividing a national resource, would not have arisen, he said.
"I would say there was a good response from the people (we met today), and something substantial can come out of it. But I cannot give you the names or details of our meeting," Deora, when asked to give a sense of the meeting by rediff.com, said.
Lok Sabha MP Harsh Vardhan on July 23 wrote to Petroleum Minister Murli Deora asking why the government had kept quiet for all this while on the Ambani family MoU that provides for dividing Krishna-Godavari basin gas between companies run by brothers Mukesh and Anil.
State-run oil marketing companies Indian Oil, Hindustan Petroleum and Bharat Petroleum are likely to lose Rs 45,478 crore (Rs 454.78 billion) this fiscal on selling fuel below cost, Petroleum Minister Murli Deora said.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has constituted a ministers' group to monitor the government's stand on the Ambani gas dispute in the Supreme Court.
The government may soon raise prices of natural gas produced by state-owned ONGC and Oil India by as much as 30 per cent, Petroleum Secretary S Sundareshan said on Monday.
Deora is believed to have explained the oil ministry's position on gas pricing and utilisation.
Anil Ambani's Reliance Natural Resources continued its attack on the government for allegedly favouring brother Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries Ltd on the sale price of gas from the Krishna Godavari D6 basin. At $4.2 per million British thermal unit (mBtu), the price fixed, there is a premium of more than 100 per cent over the gas available through the administered pricing mechanism, it said.
A friend of Mukesh Ambani should not be petroleum minister
In a new twist in the gas row between the Ambani brothers in the Supreme Court, the Anil Ambani-led RNRL on Thursday sought cross-examination of Petroleum Minister Murli Deora, accusing the Government of siding with the Mukesh Ambani's group RIL.
Asserting that it had no role in the Ambani family dispute, the government on Monday declared in Parliament that it will do everything to protect its legal right to regulate usage of gas.
For the second successive day, the Opposition disrupted proceedings in Parliament over the government's new sugarcane price policy.
Amidst the legal battle between Reliance Industries Ltd and Reliance Natural Resources Ltd over gas from Kaveri basin, Petroleum Minister Murli Deora has hit out at the Ambani brothers for fighting over a natural resource that belongs to the government and the people of the country.
Take a look at the famous faces who exercised their democratic right.
Five persons were killed and 150 others sustained burn injuries in a major fire that broke out after a petrol tanker exploded in Sitapura industrial area in Jaipur on Thursday evening, the police said. The fire spread fast and enveloped several factories located within a radius of three kms. Details about the extent of the damage caused by the fire is still awaited, said the police.
A prime minister-appointed expert group, headed by Kirit Parikh, suggested on Wednesday freeing petrol and diesel prices and suggested raising liquid petroleum gas rates by a steep Rs 100 per cylinder and kerosene by Rs 6 a litre.
"They (prices of petroleum products) should be linked to world prices," Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia told PTI when asked about the global crude prices now surging to about $70 a barrel.
Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee is believed to be in favour of giving state-run oil firms freedom to fix price of petrol and diesel in step with cost, as he feels the current moderate global oil rates may be the last window India has to deregulate fuel pricing.
Deregulating petrol and diesel prices has been on the cards since the crude oil prices came down by $100 from the historic high of $147 a barrel, a few weeks back. But with the rates climbing again, doubts are being cast if prices can actually be freed. Crude oil prices are ruling at $71-72 a barrel, a seven-month high.
Deora, who met Mukherjee on Monday afternoon to present his ministry's Budget wishlist, also discussed the deregulation of fuel prices.
The finance minister as part of his pre-Budget consultations is meeting industry bodies and ministers and has slotted Deora for June 15, a source said. On Deora's agenda will be getting back the seven-year exemption or holiday from payment of income tax for natural gas producers. He may also press for infrastructure status for natural gas.
Jaswant Singh could stick out like a sore thumb for BJP even in the Lok Sabha after its attempt to remove him from the Chairmanship of the Public Accounts Committee has been virtually rejected by Speaker Meira Kumar.
'Having spent four years in that country and been able to assess the thought process of their military up close, I am of the opinion that a reprisal is inevitable.' 'The Pak military lives in a high ego make believe world (even believing a nuclear war is fightable!) and I know they WILL respond soon enough,' says Group Captain Murli Menon (retd).
"Oil companies are still losing money. . .Please pray that prices come down further so that we can consider reducing fuel prices," Petroleum Minister Murli Deora told reporters.
Gurpreet Singh Bhullar, a close associate of gangster Chhota Shakeel, was extradited to Mumbai from Bangkok on Thursday. Bhullar, a sharp-shooter for the Shakeel gang, is wanted in several cases in Mumbai, including those related to murder and attempt to murder
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