-PTI In a marginal relief to consumers, the government on Friday abolished import and excise duties on LPG cylinders they buy beyond the 6 per annum quota of subsidised cooking gas, and asked state governments to subsidise the requirements of households at their level. The government had last week restricted supply of subsidised cooking gas to 6 per household in a year. Any requirement beyond this was to be purchased at market...

-Outlook The Women and Child Ministry is planning to make changes in the Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act, 1986 to include electronic media and internet under its purview. At present the legislation only includes depiction of women in publications, WCD secretary Prem Narain told Reporters at an interaction here. "We are also thinking of raising the penalties mentioned in the Act, to make them more contemporary," the WCD secretary said, adding that...

-Outlook National Advisory Council has asked the Women and Child Development Ministry to prepare a national policy aimed at curbing the sharp decline in the child sex ratio. Speaking to Reporters here, Secretary WCD Prem Narain said the NAC has made several recommendations including the formulation of a 'national policy' on the child sex ratio. He said these recommendations will be deliberated upon in an Inter-Ministerial Coordination Committee meeting on September 25. "The NAC...

-Outlook Alleging a Rs four lakh crore scam in iron ore mining as the state government kept renewal of licenses in abeyance, Union Minister Srikant Jena today demanded exclusive rights to Odisha Mining Corporation (OMC) over minerals. "The scam relates to renewal of licenses. Official documents show of the 107 iron ore mines in Odisha, 83 are operating by using 'deemed to' clause of the mining law," the senior Congress leader told...

-The Indian Express The subsidy bill in the current financial year is expected to rise to 2.4 per cent of the GDP from 1.9 per cent estimated in the Budget, Finance Minister P Chidambaram said today. "The estimated major subsidies in 2012-13 would be around 2.4 per cent of GDP," he said while intervening in a discussion at the meeting of the Full Planning Commission to approve the 12th Plan draft document. The...