-The Economic Times The government is pushing ahead with long-awaited reforms to boost finances of cash-strapped power utilities and to reduce food subsidy by raising the price of sugar in ration shops, but the cabinet meeting to consider these moves has been deferred to next week. Sources said the government was also considering a proposal to increase the dearness allowance for central government employees by about 7%. This should come as 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...

-Economic and Political Weekly  The Government of India is considering a proposal to notify farming as an essential service. This is ostensibly to bring drought relief to farmers suffering from a weak monsoon - a laudable goal indeed. However, if farming is deemed an "essential service", farmers and farm workers could lose many of their political and civic rights because the government can then invoke the Essential Services Maintenance Act to...

-Reuters food prices for consumers accelerated to 12.03% in August from 11.53% in July India's annual Consumer Price Inflation (CPI) picked up in August to 10.03%, driven by a rise in food prices, government data showed on Tuesday. India's retail inflation is the highest among the Brics group of emerging economies - Brazil, Russia, China, and South Africa - and is way above what the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) calls its comfort...

-CNN-IBN Food Minister KV Thomas has written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh against LPG cap and diesel price hike. “The decision to raise diesel price as well as to keep number of subsidised cooking cylinder at six a year will not go well with the middle class,” he said in the letter. He said the government should charge only Rs 50 extra for consumers seeking between 7 to 12 LPG cylinders per household...