-The Hindu Union railway Minister C.P. Joshi has announced the decision to constitute a rail Tariff Authority, based on which the next hike in passenger fares and freight rates will be effected. The Tariff Authority is an attempt at insulating the railways from various hikes being effected by the government, including on fuel price, which officials regard as having made the operation of the railways in the current situation unviable. Addressing the Economic...

-The Indian Express Ten kilometres from Jodhpur city, on a sultry afternoon under a flapping tent, a baby girl is born to Sadhu and Radha. People crowd around and peer into the tent to congratulate the couple. Someone in the crowd says, “The first Indian among us, she should be named Bharati.” The suggestion is met with nods of approval and cheers of “Bharati”. Over the last one month, the makeshift tent...

-Outlook Expanding its facility, railways have included all trains under its online train tracking service, trainenquiry.com, providing updated information about their movements. According to a statement issued today, train running information can also be sources by sending SMS to 139. All that one has to do is type 'SPOT' and send it to 139. The development comes in the wake of real-time train tracking system SIMRAN (Satellite Imaging for rail Navigation) developed by...

-The Hindu The Supreme Court’s unyielding criticism of the government for not eradicating the practice of manual scavenging was the springboard for the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment to introduce the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Bill, 2012 in the Lok Sabha on September 3. Welcomed as a panacea for the historically iniquitous, caste-ordained practice of manually handling human waste, the new Bill indicates renewed commitment...

-The Hindu In its report on the road map to fiscal consolidation, the three-member committee headed by the former Finance Secretary and 13th Finance Commission Chairman, Vijay L. Kelkar, has suggested a host of “bold reform” measures on ways of slashing the subsidy bill which, it admitted, would result in some short term pain and hardships. The committee’s recommendations also include sale of surplus land with public sector undertakings (PSUs), fast-tracking of...