-The Telegraph The cut was announced a day after the declaration of by-election results in 29 Assembly seats and 3 Lok Sabha seats, wherein BJP suffered setback in some states The Narendra Modi government has finally buckled under pressure from consumers, voters and the Opposition and slashed excise duties on petrol by Rs 5 a litre and on diesel by Rs 10 a litre. From Thursday in Calcutta, the price of petrol will...

-Hindustan Times Additional railway rakes, or train wagons, were being made available to ship fertilisers on a priority basis and at short notice, an official said. The Union government has formed a “crack team” to ensure priority movement of fertilisers to key food-bowl states as fears of shortage have triggered panic buying of crop nutrients, people familiar with the matter said. For the first time, a hub-and-spoke model is being implemented to take...

-Livemint.com NTPC Ltd plans to procure 2.5 million tonne of biomass pellets as a fuel to generate electricity at its projects NEW DELHI: As part of the Centre’ plan to contain pollution by crop stubble burning, state-run NTPC Ltd plans to procure 2.5 million tonne (mt) of biomass pellets as a fuel to generate electricity at its projects. These pellets will be mixed with coal as fuel to generate electricity. With the onset...

-TheWire.in In the dark about where their wards are jailed, family members of the three scholarship students, all from poor backgrounds, have pleaded with authorities to show lenience. Chadoora, Jammu and Kashmir: Forty-five-year-old Haneefa’s hands quiver as she begins speaking to journalists. Out of sorts and struggling with the weight of sudden tragedy, she pleads with the government. “He may have committed some mistake but I appeal to the government to please forgive...

-Scroll.in Such methodology to gauge the effectiveness of policing has only resulted in underreporting of cases and institutionalising dishonesty. We are happy to blame the politicians and the government for the various shortcomings of India’s criminal justice system but are reluctant to understand certain underlying reasons for these and focus on possible solutions. Two of these problems are corruption and general unfriendly behaviour in the police department. Most citizens know how difficult it...