Food and Civil Supplies Minister C. Divakaran said here on Friday that the Public Distribution System (PDS) in Kerala could be efficient only with the assistance of the Central government. Talking to reporters, the Minister said that the State was food deficit. So, the Centre should extend a helping hand in maintaining the system, he added. The Minister said that he had to face much difficulty in prosecuting the accused in the...

The plan outlay for 2011-12 for Andhra Pradesh has been fixed at Rs.43,000 crore, which is 17 per cent more than last year's (2010-11) outlay of Rs.36,800 crore. This was decided at the meeting held by Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy and his team of officials here on Friday with Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia and his officers. During the deliberations, Dr. Ahluwalia commended the Andhra Pradesh government by stating that...

Nearly 60 per cent of tuberculosis medication dose strengths sold in India through prescriptions of private practitioners do not conform with standard TB treatment guidelines, a study has revealed. The findings corroborate suggestions made by some Indian doctors — several times over the past two decades — that a majority of private practitioners do not write correct prescriptions for treating TB. The government’s TB control programme provides free TB treatment to more...

Loss to the exchequer due to the grant of 122 licences to new entrants in 2008 was Rs.1.24-lakh crore Government lost Rs.36,000-crore in grant of dual-technology licences The government must get exact loss calculated instead of washing its hands of it The draft report of the Public Accounts Committee on the 2G scam has come out with yet another figure for the loss to the exchequer, putting it at Rs.1.90-lakh crore in the...

Bill to create independent nuclear authority soon On a day when the world marked the 25th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, India reaffirmed its commitment to an ambitious nuclear energy plan by pushing ahead with the first phase of the controversial nuclear power plant project at Jaitapur in Maharashtra with additional safety measures and a “generous new compensation package” to be announced soon. But in a concession to heightened public awareness...