'Nobody expected the slowdown to go for these many days. Unfortunately, it is an unbelievably bad slow down.'
The Nationalist Congress Party on Thursday attributed the drubbing the Congress-led UPA has received in polls mainly to the "communication deficit" on part of outgoing prime minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi and also to issues like hike in prices of fuel and LPG cylinders by the ruling dispensation.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday slammed the government over the rising price of domestic cooking gas, diesel and petrol, and alleged that an amount of Rs 23 lakh crore has been earned by increasing prices of these commodities in the last seven years.
Low oil prices drove the growth in states' share faster than expected, says Abhishek Waghmare.
The outcome in UP is far more significant than in the other states going to the polls next year. An unlikely setback in UP can cramp the Modi government, virtually making it a lame-duck two years ahead of the 2024 parliamentary poll, observes Virendra Kapoor.
Petrol price on Friday crossed the Rs 100- per-litre mark in Chennai as well as in some places in Punjab and Kerala after fuel prices were hiked yet again. Petrol is priced at over Rs 99 a litre in Delhi and Kolkata -- the only metro cities which haven't seen the Rs 100 mark yet. Petrol price was hiked by 35 paise per litre on Friday but there was no change in diesel rates, according to a price notification of state-owned fuel retailers.
'I am here to look after people's needs.' 'I am not bothered about who is a Maoist or who is not.'
Modi said there was a time when families would celebrate getting gas connections as if they have got home a Mercedes.
Experts contend that this setback, even if temporary, could put the company at a disadvantage to its competitors in acquiring new customers.
"Those who won in the recount are now asking the Election Commission why Modi is going to Gujarat," he said.
'Economic issues do not matter during elections; it is the emotional connect that helps swing votes.'
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.
The connections will be released on completion of Know Your Customer formalities and de-duplication of the applicants across all the three Oil Companies to ensure that multiple connections are not released.
The government appointed panel will look at the difficulties consumers faced in receiving the subsidy after buying gas cylinders at market rates.
Having failed to align cooking gas prices with the market and limit the number of subsidised cylinders to consumers, the government is now trying to curb the misuse of multiple connections in households.
The government has raised the security deposit paid by consumers for new LPG connection to Rs 850 per cylinder following higher prices paid by the distributors in procuring cylinders.
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.
With the flood threat continuing to loom large over the valley, the Army has started the evacuation process in Srinagar as the city experienced fresh rainfall on Tuesday.
The government does not seem inclined, at least in the petroleum sector, to effect sudden and steep upward price revisions to tame its huge subsidy burden and rein in fiscal deficit.
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.
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.
A hike in diesel and domestic LPG prices has been deferred for now, but an increase in petrol prices later this week looks imminent.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Modi also pitched for a social movement to ensure the safety of women and girls.
'...because the party is based on the Constitution.'
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.
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.
These are initiatives not commonly seen in economic administration.
The staggered increase in kerosene rate may not have the same impact of freeing up the fuel price as for diesel.
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.
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 government has allowed oil companies to raise diesel price by 50 paise a litre per month; bulk users to be charged market price.
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 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.
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