-The Telegraph Surtama, a 37-year-old woman from the mountains of Uttarkashi, was in the capital yesterday to express anger at having to live with no electricity and demand a revival of stalled hydroelectric projects in her state. “We walk more than 2km to a village in Himachal Pradesh to charge the mobile phone battery,” said Surtama from Pujeli, a village of about 80 households some of which have acquired mobile phones to...

Sitamarhi, June 16: The Union rural development ministry has approved construction of 6,000km road in Bihar under Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) during the current financial year at a cost of Rs 3,200 crore. Union rural development minister Jairam Ramesh made this announcement after a review meeting with officers at Sitamarhi circuit house today. The minister, who is on a two-day visit to the state, told reporters that the ministry...

-IANS The government's plan to replace the public distribution system (PDS) with direct cash transfer into people's accounts under the proposed Food Security Bill is not getting any takers, some social activists said here Friday. According to the proposal, the PDS through which subsidised foodgrains are made available to people will be replaced with direct cash subsidies where a fixed amount will be transferred into people's bank accounts each month. Talking to media...

-The Hindu ‘Bhagidari atta' to be rich in fibre and nominally priced With a huge wheat harvest across North India and massive pile-up of stocks in godowns not resulting in a drop in the price of flour, the Delhi Government has decided to step in yet again with the sale of its “Bhagidari atta” for providing people with wheat flour at a reasonable price. Delhi Food & Civil Supplies Minister Haroon Yusuf, who...

-PTI Aiming to make Delhi the first kerosene free city in the country, Delhi Government today announced a scheme under which cash subsidy of Rs 2,000 will be provided to each of the about 1.75 lakh households for obtaining an LPG connection and purchase of a gas stove. The ambitious scheme was announced by Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit while presenting the annual budget for the year 2012-13. An amount of Rs...