Gandhi also raised the issue of rising prices of LPG cylinders and said crores of beneficiaries of the Ujjawala scheme are not able to afford a refill.
Expectations are that the government will use the Union Budget to create an environment, which is conducive for growth.
The Sikkim Government has confirmed that 14 people have died so far in the flash floods that occurred in Sikkim in the early hours of Wednesday.
The company, which is also looking to strengthen its position in the sports utility segment, today launched the automatic transmission four-wheel drive version of its popular sports utility vehicle Captiva, priced at Rs 20.3 lakhs (Rs 2.03 million). He said the company will be launching an LPG-driven car in the first half of this year, without specifying details, adding it would be followed by other LPG vehicles.
In a relief to senior Indian Police Service (IPS) officer Sanjay Kundu, the Supreme Court on Friday set aside the Himachal Pradesh high court direction to remove him from the post of state Director General of Police over allegations that he tried to pressure a businessman who claimed to have received a threat to his life from his partners.
Here are the main factors that impact the November 23 elections in the state.
The government's three key allies Samajwadi Party, RJD and DMK along with Left parties and BJP on Friday demanded reduction of diesel and LPG prices in view of the decrease in the cost of international crude by nearly $100 over last few months.
The Indian Oil Corporation has taken a hit of about Rs 1,000 crore (Rs 10 billion) in the first quarter of the current fiscal on selling subsidised LPG and Kerosene below the cost.
In most parts of the landlocked northeastern state, items such as rice, potato, onion and egg besides LPG cylinders and petrol are selling at rates much above the ones fixed by the government.
Oil Minister Murli Deora on Wednesday said his ministry is not in favour of raising diesel and domestic LPG prices as response to spurt in global crude oil prices, as the move will add to already high inflation rate.
In order to end use of kerosene -- which often does not reach the intended beneficiaries -- the Delhi government on Tuesday launched an ambitious scheme, where about 3.5 lakh BPL and poor families will get free LPG cylinders and gas stoves.
The party also promised reservation to minorities on basis of their population after the caste census.
Domestic LPG prices may go up by Rs 22-25 per cylinder this week as oil companies push for a hike in retail selling price in view of Budget 2003-04 lowering subsidy provision for cooking gas and PDS kerosene.
The government has set up a committee to work out sharing by producers and retailers the losses likely to accrue from the decision to freeze LPG and kerosene price for a year despite rising cost.\n\n\n\n
The Union government is likely to cut import duties on diesel, kerosene and cooking gas to cushion the impact of high international crude oil prices on the domestic market.
Petroleum Minister Ram Naik on Friday said oil companies will revise prices of domestic LPG only after Finance Minister Jaswant Singh replied to the Budget debate in Lok Sabha on Tuesday next.\n
Price of petrol may go up by Rs 4.70 a litre and diesel by Rs 2.30 a litre.
Reliance Industries on Monday said its city gas would be cheaper by almost 33 per cent compared to liquefied petroleum gas being supplied by oil PSUs.
The recent government decision to restrict supply of subsidised cooking gas cylinders to six per year to each household will see consumption for fuel decline to 4.1 per cent in second half of the fiscal, a report by think-tank CMIE said.
Petrol and diesel sales in India jumped in September as economic activity picked up with the nearing festival season and the ending of the monsoon raised the demand, preliminary industry data showed. Petrol sales soared 13.2 per cent to 2.65 million tonnes in September when compared to 2.34 million tonnes of consumption in the same month last year. Sales were 20.7 per cent higher than Covid-marred September 2020 and 23.3 per cent more than pre-pandemic September 2019.
Cooking gas price was on Saturday hiked by Rs 11.42 per cylinder following government decision to raise commission paid to the dealers.
According to DMK, the voters are already consolidated on ideological lines, hence the impact of anti-incumbency, whether against the BJP Centre or the DMK state may not be too much, notes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Dominic Xavier offers his take on the third increase in the LPG rate since May and the fourth this year.
The Tihar jail authorities expect the network, which will carry gas to jail kitchens, to be laid out by April and this will cost about Rs 60 lakh, Director General (Prisons) B K Gupta told reporters. "LPG cylinders are widely used by prisoners during riots in jails and we want to avoid such incidents," he said. During the January 7 jail riots in a Jalandhar prison, the inmates threw LPG cylinders into the fire but luckily, these did not explode.
The scheme was to be rolled out in 20 districts initially but the launch in Mysore in Karnataka and Mandi in Himachal Pradesh has been put off by a month due to assembly and Parliamentary bypolls, official sources said.
The deficit stood over Rs 8 trillion in the first seven months of the current financial year. Non-tax revenues, comprising transfers from the RBI and dividends of the public sector units, shored up the Centre's revenues.
The blast occurred on Tuesday evening at Himachali Rasoi restaurant, known for serving Himachali cuisines, located in Middle Bazaar adjacent to the fire brigade office in the heart of the city.
Ahead of the crucial third round of discussions, the opposition INDIA bloc on Wednesday exuded confidence that it would provide a formidable alternative to bring political change in the country and asserted that it has several prime ministerial faces against BJP's only one.
Rumour-mongering has largely affected the process to calm down the situation and bring peace in troubled Manipur.
India's largest oil producer Oil and Natural Gas Corp, gas utility GAIL and exploration firm Oil India Ltd will pay Rs 3,246 crore (Rs 32.46 billion) to oil marketing firms to partly cover the losses they made in April-June.
In moving scenes at the spot, women were seen wailing, possibly over the loss of a dear one, while a child recalled the tense moments before fleeing to safety.
Petrol and diesel sales in the country fell in July over the previous month as the onset of monsoon chipped away demand in some sectors and restricted mobility, preliminary industry data showed. Diesel, the most widely used fuel in the country, saw consumption drop 13.1 per cent to 6.44 million tonnes from 7.39 million tonnes of demand in June. The arrival and intensity of monsoon weigh heavily on diesel demand in the country and consumption traditionally is lower in July-September than in April-June.
Rinku Singh has become a household name after his sensational power hitting in IPL to help Kolkata Knight Riders clinch victory from the jaws of defeat against Lucknow Super Giants on Sunday.
This will pave the way for emergence of 24,000 new panchayat-level leaders in Telangana, he said.
'Once elected, you have to act like people's representative for the full five years or else people show you your place.'
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday said the National Rural Livelihood Mission has achieved remarkable success by mobilising rural women into 1 lakh SHGs (self help groups).
