-The Telegraph Union minister Kapil Sibal has promised measures to ensure that the Centre’s curbs on cooking-gas subsidy would not derail the midday meal scheme that serves eight crore children in 12 lakh elementary schools. The Telegraph had reported on Wednesday that self-help groups had stopped preparing midday meals in over 50 primary schools in North 24-Parganas since Monday saying they could not afford the cylinders’ new price. Chief minister Mamata Banerjee had...

-IANS Protecting the interest of the common man, the Supreme Court Wednesday told the government not to disturb the existing retail price mechanism of drugs under the price control order while finalising the list of essential medicines. The judges observed that the prices of the drugs were so high that it left the patient with the option of either to die or buy medicines by selling one's land or ornaments. "The common man...

-The Times of India A new scam worth several thousands of crores has come to light. The Central Bureau of Investigation has started a probe into serious irregularities in awarding offshore mining blocks to private companies which did not fulfill the eligibility criteria. The CBI has registered a preliminary enquiry (PE) against officials of the Indian Bureau of Mines (IBM), the ministry of mines as well as private companies which secured licences...

-The Economic Times The central government has banned states from allowing sale or export of iron ore by companies granted mining leases for own steel production. "The entire ore produced in the mining operation (of captive mines) shall be used exclusively for own consumption in iron or steel making and cannot be either sold in India or exported to other countries," the mines ministry said in an order issued on September...

-The Times of India In a relief to consumers, the home minister P Chidambaram on Friday announced abolishment the import and excise duties on non-subsidized domestic LPG cylinders, bringing down their price by Rs 97 a unit in Delhi. It also asked states to subsidize LPG cylinders. The government had last week restricted supply of subsidized cooking gas to six per household in a year. Any requirement beyond this was to be...