'So you have welfare programmes, you reach out to the poor, you cut out the middlemen, you cut out the leakages and you try to raise the standard of living.'
India has a history of jugaad, and retrofitting vehicles is one such manifestation of the legendary Indian skill. Not so long ago autorickshaws and small Marutis used to strap on subsidised LPG cylinders and power themselves to a cheap ride. There were the odd explosions, lives were lost, but the jugaad continued. Then compressed natural gas (CNG) was introduced in Delhi following a court order. Initially, customised CNG kits were fitted to conventional (internal combustion engine or ICE) autos cheaply, enabling commuting at less than half of what you would cough up for diesel. The industry is better organised now with Suzuki and Hyundai designing CNG-fired vehicles, and Mahindra and TVS manufacturing liquefied petroleum gas (LPG)-powered three wheelers.
Eying a prominent role in the next government at the Centre, the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam on Tuesday promised to extend populist schemes like distribution of free mixies, grinders, fans, milch cows and goats across the country in its Lok Sabha manifesto.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's brother Prahlad Modi, who is also the vice president of All India Fair Price Shop Dealers' Federation, on Tuesday staged a dharna here with various demands of the organisation. Prahlad along with several other members of the All India Fair Price Shop Dealers' Federation (AIFPSDF) gathered at Jantar Mantar, holding banners and raising slogans.
Petrol price can go down to Rs 75 a litre across the country if brought under the ambit of the Goods and Services Tax (GST), but there is a lack of political will, which is keeping Indian oil product prices at one of the highest in the world, economists at SBI said on Thursday.
Banks, ATMs and quite a few markets were kept open on Sunday while 2.5 lakh sacrificial goats have been made available in the Kashmir valley to help citizens celebrate Eid-ul-Azha with traditional fervour.
Farmer leader Abhimanyu Kohar, who is a member of Sankyukt Kisan Morcha, said on Sunday that farmers have waterproof tents but they cannot protect them from biting cold and waterlogging.
A group of four-five 'Nihangs' (Sikhs armed with traditional weapons and dressed in loose blue top) were travelling in a vehicle and they were asked to stop at a vegetable market by the Mandi board officials at around 6.15 am, police said.
The government allocated Rs 650 billion for petroleum subsidies in FY14, of which Rs 450 billion was used to pay oil marketing companies for the subsidy gap incurred in the previous financial year.
The party released its manifesto -- Samajwadi Vachan Patra -- for the coming assembly elections, shortly after the BJP released its own.
India is the third worst-hit nation by the pandemic after the US and Brazil in terms of cases and deaths.
With the rupee continuing to remain weak against the US dollar, losses on diesel have climbed to Rs 9.45 per litre, upsetting the government's subsidy maths.
In a move that could potentially irk New Delhi, China has offered to supply liquified petroleum gas to Nepal after gifting fuel to ease the crisis in the country, hit by acute fuel shortage due to a blockade at key border trade points with India.
The impact of fiscal measures announced by the government to contain inflation will be seen in the next few months because of the base effect, reports Indivjal Dhasmana.
In a discussion in Lok Sabha on the COVID pandemic, members called for ban on international flights in view of the outbreak of the Omicron strain and demanded that the government 'accept responsibility' for deaths of lakhs of people during the outbreak.
The Rajya Sabha was adjourned twice while the opposition parties staged a walkout in Lok Sabha on Tuesday, voicing their protest against the increase in the prices of petrol, diesel and cooking gas LPG.
The flooding in Kerala, Karnataka and Maharashtra has left people without homes and brought about destruction worth crores.
India has emerged as the world's biggest cylinder-based liquefied petroleum gas user with the customer base crossing 7 crore (70 million mark), Petroleum Minister Ram Naik said.
Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge, speaking on the Motion of Thanks on the President's address, charged the government with not delivering on its various promises, including generating two crore jobs per year.
Fifty-six months on, the government's record in implementing these schemes and projects has been mixed, report Arup Roychoudhury and Indivjal Dhasmana.
Dairies, milk plants, grocery shops, chemists and petrol pumps, ATMs, e-commerce services of essential items like food and medicines will remain open, he said.
A shortfall in LPG supply from Aramco has led to huge booking backlog across states. To meet the backlog, India has asked Abu Dhabi National Oil Company for two additional cargos of LPG, but that may take another 10 days to reach.
Now, the Rs 1,200 crore induction cooker industry has got a much needed boost to go for an all out marketing battle against the gas stove segment pegged at Rs 1,300 crore.
The government on Tuesday increased the distributors' commission on domestic cooking gas (LPG) by 38 paise on a 14.2 kg cylinder and by 20 paise on a 5 kg cylinder, resulting in an equivalent increase in the prices of the fuel.
The expert group was tasked to suggest a methodology for pricing of diesel and cooking fuel.
They were present in the pub when the blaze occurred, but fled without helping the guests, the official said.
Damu Nagar -- a shanty colony built around a hillock in Mumbai's northern suburb of Kandivali, abutting the Sanjay Gandhi National Park, was engulfed in an inferno Monday, December 7, that left more than 2,000 homes gutted and thousands homeless. Residents displayed exemplary courage, camaraderie and chutzpah as they grappled with ways and means to overcome their personal catastrophes when Rediff.com visited them.
India's fuel sales surged past pre-pandemic levels in March on twin impact of the economy rebounding from the lifting of pandemic-related restrictions and anticipation of price increases leading to stocking. In the first two weeks of March, dealers, as well as the public, topped up their tanks in anticipation of an increase in prices that had been on hold in the run-up to the elections in states like Uttar Pradesh. While daily price revisions restarted on March 22, the increases were calibrated.
Dhubri is the worst hit with over 8.72 lakh people affected, followed by Barpeta with more than 4.78 lakh people and Goalpara with around 4.28 lakh population.
Launching the Ayushman Bharat scheme via a video-conference to extend health insurance benefits to all residents of Jammu and Kashmir, he said the three-tier panchayat system has fully taken shape in the UT, describing it as a realisation of Mahatma Gandhi's dream of 'gram swaraj' (village self-rule).
Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), the nation's biggest oil firm, on Tuesday reported a 31.4 per cent drop in the fourth quarter net profit as record refining margins were wiped away by a margin squeeze in petrochemicals and losses on auto fuel sales. Standalone net profit of Rs 6,021.88 crore, or Rs 6.56 a share, in January-March, compared with Rs 8,781.30 crore, or Rs 9.56 per share, in the same period a year back, the company said in a stock exchange filing. Sequentially, the profit was higher than Rs 5,860.80 crore in the previous quarter.
LPG alone will save us Rs 8,000 cr a year: M Veerappa Moily.
At present, around 12 per cent of around 190 million rural households today use LPG to meet their cooking energy needs.
Modi said the country needs to increase domestic output of energy.
He spent 12 hours out in the open precariously perched on a cliff as torrential rains unleashed large-scale devastation on Kedarnath, demolishing all that came in their way with equal fury except the shrine.
Sheila Dikshit answers the question everyone is asking: 'What after the Commonwealth Games'?
India's petrol and diesel sales fell by about 17 per cent in May from a month ago as restrictions clamped to curb the world's worst outbreak of coronavirus infections stifled demand. Sales of petrol -- used in cars and motorcycles -- fell to 1.79 million tonne in May, the lowest in a year, according to the preliminary data of state-owned fuel retailers. While the consumption was almost 13 per cent higher than demand in May 2020, it was 28 per cent lower than pre-COVID levels of 2.49 million tonne.
Analysts are enthused by BPCL's upstream foray and have re-rated the stock in the past couple of years.
The only fuel that showed growth was LPG as the government dole of free cooking gas cylinders to poor households fired up consumption by 21 per cent during April 1 to 15.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances