-The Times of India State-owned oil marketing companies (OMCs) are all set to increase price of petrol by Rs 5 a litre with effect from Saturday, while the prices of diesel, cooking gas and kerosene will be increased next week once Congress president Sonia Gandhi returns after her medical checkup on September 10. A cabinet note on increasing the prices of sensitive petroleum products like diesel, cooking gas and kerosene has already...

-The Economic Times MUMBAI: Soaring diesel consumption by fleet owners, telecom companies to keep their towers running and malls to pamper their affluent customers is blowing up the theory that continuation of diesel subsidies is intended to help farmers and truckers in order to keep inflation low. Diesel consumption is growing at a rapid pace that is lining the pockets of the business community rather than the government's intention to help poor...

-The Business Standard The Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) on Wednesday announced that it would provide 100 yard plots to landless and homeless families in rural areas of the state, if the party was voted to power during the assembly elections to be held in December this year. This announcement is part of the Congress's poll campaign 'Gujarat Praja Vikas Darshan 2012'. GPCC president Arjun Modhvadia said claimed that the Narendra Modi...

-The Economic Times The economic and social impact of reduction in petroleum subsidies in India will be much lower than perceived if a cash transfer system for directly subsidising vulnerable consumers is successfully implemented, studies commissioned by the Geneva-based International Institute for Sustainable Development have said. The government must, however, dismantle subsidies in a calibrated manner as vulnerable consumers will be able to adjust better if the under-recoveries are gradually eliminated, cautioned...

-The Telegraph One Singh has told the Congress what another Singh probably wants to: create a political environment conducive for reducing subsidies. Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia has told Congress MPs that subsidy cuts are essential if India has to preserve its growth momentum — a statement more in line with the known views of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh than the populist line preferred by many Congress leaders. Many Congress MPs,...