-The Indian Express Petroleum Minister Veerappa Moily on Thursday refuted Arvind Kejriwal’s accusations of the UPA government favouring Reliance Industries Ltd saying that the decisions were taken objectively “without fear or favour” and assured that his ministry would continue to uphold transparency. “The ministry is committed to upholding the rule of law and decisions are taken objectively without any fear or favour. The system is not influenced or guided by whims and...

-The Indian Express After 14 years, the Central government has held the minimum support price (MSP) for wheat constant at last year’s Rs 1,285 per quintal. There is, of course, still no guarantee that the price will not be changed if major producer states like Punjab and Haryana raise objections. But for now, the UPA government’s newly discovered zeal to push through another reform is heartening. It may also be useful...

-The Times of India Within hours of raising cooking gas prices, the government late on Thursday asked oil marketing companies to put on hold the Rs 26.50 hike, calling into question the seriousness of the deregulation plan and casting a doubt over the UPA's commitment to fiscal reforms. The U-turn came after a volley of protests by the opposition and days before Himachal Pradesh goes to polls, with Gujarat elections to follow....

-The Hindu Says the whole country is waiting for a statement from Manmohan on the issue Terming the ouster of Jaipal Reddy from the Petroleum Ministry unfortunate and anguishing, Communist Party of India (CPI) Member of Parliament Gurudas Dasgupta on Thursday asked Prime Minister manmohan singh to serve a fresh notice on the Mukesh Ambani-owned Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) and restrict the cost recovery for 2012-13 by $1.72 billion for the shortfall...

-PTI The Union Cabinet on Thursday decided to withdraw controversial draft amendments to the Right to Information Act that had sought to restrict disclosure of file notings only to social and developmental issues. After this, all file notings can be made public except those explicitly exempted, such as the ones related to national security, privacy and protection of commercial interest. “The Cabinet has decided to withdraw the amendments,” said a source privy to...