-The Times of India The Election Commission (EC) on Wednesday rapped petroleum minister M Veerappa Moily for having violated the model code of conduct with his poll-eve announcement of plans to increase LPG subsidy cap from six to nine cylinders a year. Expressing its strong disapproval of the announcement made on Tuesday - adjudged by the poll watchdog as promise of a financial grant - the EC cautioned Moily to be...

-Outlook The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) today approved a urea investment policy that is likely to incentivise fertiliser firms setting up new plants and expanding existing capacity. India imports over 30 per cent of urea requirement and the policy aims at reducing that. But, it is unlikely to have any impact on existing prices. "The new urea investment policy has been cleared," sources said after the CCEA meeting here. The policy, which...

-Governance Now An alumnus of IIT Kanpur, Ram Sewak Sharma is a 1978 batch Indian administrative service officer belonging to Jharkhand cadre. Sharma is praised for laying down IT infrastructure in Jharkhand. In his role as the director general of unique identification authority of India (UIDAI) Sharma is chauffeuring ‘Aadhaar-enabled service delivery’ which would result in saving huge financial resources to the public exchequer. In an interview with Pratap Vikram Singh,...

-The Hindu Private companies get loansat 6.5% with additional cash refunds; for farmers it is 7% The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD), which is dedicated to promoting rural development by providing soft loans to State governments for social sector projects, has given hundreds of crores as loans to corporates on concessional terms. In the Union Budget of 2011-12, Rs. 18,000 crore was allocated by the Centre to NABARD’s Rural Infrastructure...

-The Economic Times The parliamentary standing committee on food is giving a final shape to the UPA-II government's ambitious Food Security Bill. It is likely to submit its report during this session which is likely to end on December 21. Committee chairman Vilas Muttemwar summoned senior food ministry officials on Monday to study the availability of grains and the ministry's readiness to roll out the project. The government, however, is likely to present...