Priyanka Gandhi Vadra released the Congress' manifesto for Uttarakhand on Wednesday promising to reserve 40 per cent jobs for women in the police department, jobs to four lakh people, and creation of a 'tourism police' force.
Domestic cooking gas consumers in Delhi and Mumbai will from Wednesday get cash subsidy for buying cooking gas refils as the Direct Benefit Transfer for LPG (DBTL) Scheme will be extended to 105 more districts.
The government is looking into demands for raising the cap on supply of subsidised cooking gas (LPG) cylinders per households, Oil Minister M Veerappa Moily said.
Describing DBT for LPG as a 'tremendous success,' Oil Minister M Veerappa Moily said the programme, when implemented throughout the country, would help save Rs 8,000-9,000 crore (Rs 80-90 billion) of subsidy from going to unintended beneficiaries.
Industry think-tank TERI has demanded an end to government dictats on pricing of petroleum products and sought subsidies on domestic cooking gas (LPG) and kerosene to be directly provided to consumers.
He felt particularly upset with the Left parties protesting on issues such as cooking gas and electricity prices and 'aam admi' pursuits rather than the broader picture.
The price of subsidised cooking gas was on Tuesday hiked by over Rs 2 per cylinder, the sixth increase in rates in five months, while that of jet fuel was raised by a steep 7.3 per cent in step with global trends.
Sniping at the Congress, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Sunday said its rally in New Delhi was intended to create a false bravado for the demoralised cadre of the ruling party which has failed to address serious concerns over corruption and multiple scams.
The new system will entail a periodic revision in the price of subsidised LPG cylinders so that the subsidy remains fixed.
State-run oil marketing companies on Monday raised the security deposit for new cooking gas (LPG) connections to Rs 1,250 from the existing Rs 850 per cylinder, as also the price of cylinder regulator due to increase in input costs.
The excise duty cut will translate into a reduction of Rs 9.5 a litre on petrol and Rs 7 a litre in diesel after taking into account its impact on other levies.
Implementation of Kirit Parikh Committee recommendations looks bleak and the industry's expectation that all petroleum products including crude oil & natural gas should be included under GST is set to be turned down.
It proposed that smart cards be issued to BPL families for supply of subsidised kerosene in urban and semi-urban areas to cut diversion of the fuel to unintended users. The panel also suggested a cash transfer system, whereby funds can be transferred to BPL families through a banking or postal system for purchasing of kerosene, instead of supplying the fuel much below the market price.
Iran has sought a 20 per cent increase in price for the additional 2.5 million tonnes per annum of liquefied natural gas that India wants to buy, over and above the five million tonnes contracted earlier this week.
Under-realisation on selling domestic LPG and kerosene through public distribution system is likely to be around Rs 50,000 crore (Rs 500 billion) during the current fiscal, Petroleum Minister Murli Deora said on Monday.
The staggered increase in kerosene rate may not have the same impact of freeing up the fuel price as for diesel.
In a much relief to the common man, Oil Minister Veerppa Moily said that the cap on subsidised liquefied petroleum cylinders is to go up to 9 in a year.
IOC and other oil firms have been paying LPG consumers in 54 districts up to Rs 500 to help them buy a 14.2-kg cooking gas refill at market price, which is more than double of Rs 410 per bottle rate in Delhi.
Experts say having an open fire in the kitchen is like burning 400 cigarettes an hour.
Dharmendra Pradhan lays bare the next course of action for his ministry and says RIL will have to pay the same price at which it produced the volumes.
Opposition members in the Lok Sabha on Monday blamed the Bharatiya Janata Party-led central government's policies for the price rise and accused it of ignoring the plight of common people, saying kitchens will soon "see a lockdown" if the Centre does not take corrective measures.
Important pieces of legislation held up because of opposition by the Trinamool Congress could be cleared in two months, top government managers told Business Standard.
'There are occasions when the prices of individual items like food raise inflation; then supply-side measures must be taken.' 'But if there is continued inflation, it means liquidity is aggravating the situation.'
The government on Thursday more than doubled the price of natural gas that is used to produce electricity, make fertilisers, turned into CNG and piped to household kitchens for cooking, on the back of a spike in global energy prices. The price of gas produced from old regulated fields, such as the nation's largest gas field of Bassein of ONGC, will rise to a record high of $6.10 per million British thermal unit (mmBtu) from the current $2.90 per mmBtu, according to the oil ministry's Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC). The new price, which is likely to result in a hike in CNG and piped cooking gas rates, will be for six months beginning April 1.
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.
A CNN-IBN Urban India Ooinion Poll shows the recent economic reform move of the government has not gone down well with the urban India. The poll shows that while the price rise and corruption remain the major concerns for the urban India, there is also a massive anger over cap on LPG subsidy and diesel price hike among the people across the cities.
As the world's third-largest oil importer and consumer, India is running out of options as the relentless surge in international oil prices make it imperative to pass them on to consumers, officials said on Monday. India imports 85 per cent of its crude oil needs and about half of its natural gas requirement. While the imported crude oil is turned into fuels such as petrol and diesel, gas is used as CNG in automobiles and fuel in factories.
Kharadi has eight children -- four sons and as many daughters -- from two wives. The entire family lives in Neechla Thala village, about three kilometres from Kotda tehsil of Udaipur.
Housing sales mostly declined during the first and the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic but prices did not fall in most of the cities but rather increased in some cities, according to the Economic Survey 2021-22. The pre-Budget document also highlighted that the housing demand recovered after both the waves on the back of pent up demand, low interest rates on home loans and reduction in stamp duty by some states. The survey has analysed the National Housing Bank's data on change in housing transactions in Q1FY21 (first COVID-19 wave) and Q1FY22 (second COVID-19 wave) over the pre-pandemic levels of Q1FY20. It also looked into change in housing prices index during this period.
Margins for the oil refining and retailing sector have moved off their peaks, and the average integrated margins (refining plus marketing) for oil marketing companies (OMCs) have normalised. The ascent in crude oil prices, combined with static retail prices, has depressed marketing margins for diesel and petrol. However, the fall in marketing margins has been offset by increased gross refining margins (GRMs).
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 rupee falling to new lows, losses on diesel and cooking fuel have widened to their highest levels this year, upsetting the government's subsidy maths.
Congress general secretary Bhanwar Jitendra Singh on Tuesday said there is no truth in the speculation of senior party leader Kamal Nath joining the Bharatiya Janata Party and claimed such talks were a creation of the media and the saffron party.
It could become a giant leap towards lasting reform if the experiment in direct benefit transfers for cooking gas subsidies pans out.
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