-Outlook Starting June 1 cooking gas (LPG) consumers in 18 districts will get Rs 435 in their bank accounts when they book an LPG cylinder as the government rolls out its ambitious direct benefit transfer programme to cut its fuel subsidy. The scheme was to be rolled out in 20 districts initially but the launch in Mysore in Karnataka and Mandi in Himachal Pradesh has been put off by a month due...

Argumentative Indians are at it again! After sparring over the poverty line and the actual number of poor, India's renowned economists have fired up a fresh debate over the extent of malnutrition. In the earlier debate, the Planning Commission ‘reduced' poverty on paper disregarding NSSO and official committees, including the NCEUS, which determined that 77% Indians survived on less than Rs 20 a day. Columbia university economist Arvind Panagariya has...

-The Hindu Seven years after the first warning in June 2006 from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and five years after the Department of Justice initiated legal proceedings against the company, Ranbaxy is back in the news for the same wrong reasons. Last fortnight it pleaded guilty to felony charges in the U.S., admitting to selling adulterated drugs with intent to defraud, not reporting that its drugs failed...

-The Times of India MUMBAI: A Mumbai hospital has put up a notice advising its doctors to avoid prescribing drugs manufactured by Ranbaxy Laboratories. This comes a fortnight after Ranbaxy Laboratories agreed to pay a $500-million penalty to US authorities for "selling adulterated drugs" in the American market. It is not known whether the two are linked. Consultants at Jaslok Hospital said an advisory was put up at the receptionist's circular desk...

-The Economic Times NEW DELHI: Petrol could become costlier by about 4 a litre if the government compels oil firms to sell 5% ethanol-blended petrol across the country by next month as these companies would be forced to import huge quantities of the biofuel at exorbitant rates. But, the Cabinet, which will meet soon to discuss the issue, may relax compulsory doping as it would want petrol prices to rise sharply, months...