The common man, whose concerns were at the heart of the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance’s two successful election campaigns, doesn’t seem to be the focus of finance minister Pranab Mukherjee’s budget. Experts and political analysts say the aam admi doesn’t appear to be the dominant concern anymore, prompting speculation about Congress party chief Sonia Gandhi’s role. She has thus far been setting the UPA’s social agenda through the National Advisory Council...

Rural development minister Jairam Ramesh wants to sidestep categories proposed under the food security law to make sure that the welfare impact of the legislation isn’t nullified because a count that’s central to it hasn’t been completed across large parts of the nation. Ramesh wants 25kg of foodgrain given every month to 75% of the rural poor and 50% of the urban poor at subsidized rates. The National Food Security Bill, which...

-The Times of India Making a strong pitch for raising diesel prices, Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council chairman C Rangarajan on Wednesday said there was a need to revise prices to reduce the huge subsidy burden and bring down the fiscal deficit.  While releasing the economic review for 2011-12, Rangarajan said it was earlier agreed to deregulate diesel prices but the decision was never implemented. He advocated a phased deregulation of diesel...

-The Times of India After inhaling kitchen smoke for over four decades, Shirin Kapasi, 62, can now breathe easy. Over the past four months, she has stopped cooking for the family. Instead, she has started making imitation jewellery at home and added to the earnings of her husband, an autorickshaw driver.  Kapasi and hundreds of women like her from the Dawoodi Bohra community have been unshackled from the hearth thanks to the...

In an extraordinary effort at resolving policy disputes, the Union food ministry pleaded before the Supreme Court on Thursday to order the Planning Commission to release funds for reforms in the Public Distribution System (PDS) and to order the rural development ministry to provide details of how many people in the category of poorest of poor had been left out of PDS.  In its affidavit filed in court, the ministry also accused...