-PTI In a marginal relief to consumers, the government on Friday abolished import and excise duties on LPG cylinders they buy beyond the 6 per annum quota of subsidised cooking gas, and asked state governments to subsidise the requirements of households at their level. The government had last week restricted supply of subsidised cooking gas to 6 per household in a year. Any requirement beyond this was to be purchased at market...

-The Hindu Financial burden has to be assessed before scheme is extended to higher income groups: Chandy Consequent on the Congress party’s core committee recommendation to raise the number of subsidised LPG cylinders from six to NINe a year, the Kerala government on Wednesday announced that the additional three subsidised cylinders would be targeted at the BPL (below the poverty line) category on the basis of the consumption pattern in 2011-12. Addressing a...

-The Indian Express The government may consider “minor adjustments” on the LPG cylinder cap in the wake of pressure from within the Congress and Trinamool Congress's decision to withdraw support to the UPA. Sources said while there is no question of rollback of the government's decision to put a cap on the number of subsidized cylinders, the government was ready for minor adjustments on it and can increase the total number of...

-The Hindustan Times The coal ministry took away 40 blocks that had been allotted and "explored in detail" by Coal India Limited (CIL), a PSU, so they could be handed over to private parties, a CAG report has said. These 40 came from a chunk of 48 blocks de-reserved from CIL's kitty in May 2006. As of June 2011, of the 48 blocks , NINe blocks remained unallocated, three were de-allocated after...

-The Times of India HYDERABAD: Is Bt Brinjal safe? The demonisation of BT crops got a push with the parliamentary committee on agriculture in its report submitted last month commenting that transgenics in food crops would be fraught with unknown consequences. But the Hyderabad-based National Institute of Nutrition (NIN) of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) says that Bt Brinjal is safe. A voluminous report on the laboratory experiments carried out...