-Down to Earth UPA gives sops under MGNREGS to attract rural voters ahead of elections WITH most of its recent schemes struggling, a desperate UPA government is pinning its hopes on Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) to win votes in 2014 elections. The government is overhauling the employment scheme that helped it return to power in 2009 for a reason. It touches the lives of over 55 per cent...

-The Hindustan Times Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Friday met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and made a strong case for increasing the quota of subsidised LPG cylinders for households besides sought the passage of key anti-corruption bills in the forthcoming session of Parliament. Congress sources said Gandhi is expected to meet the Prime Minister once again in the coming days exclusively on the issue of raising the quota of subsidised LPG cylinders. Soon...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) spent Rs 18 crore in Delhi polls and bagged 28 seats. What could have been the expenditure of other political parties is still in the realm of speculation as none has declared their expenses yet. The flying squads of Election Commission and Income Tax had seized Rs 27 crore of unaccounted cash during Delhi polls from political workers, who mainly...

-Outlook A surge in food prices ripped common man's pockets as the UPA government paid for its failure in the assembly polls in four states and may feel the heat in next year's general elections as well if it is not controlled. Prices of kitchen essentials such as onions spiked to a record Rs 100 per kg and tomatoes touched Rs 80 in some states during the year, pushing the food inflation...

-PTI Allaying fears of a spurt in public expenditure ahead of Lok Sabha polls, finance minister P Chidambaram on Wednesday said government will not compromise on fiscal discipline, notwithstanding the defeat of Congress in four states, including Delhi and Rajasthan. Inaugurating the Delhi Economic Conclave, Chidambaram blamed the states for "inaction" to check hoarding and said the incumbent government pays a price for high inflation. "The agenda, therefore, will be obvious. At the...