-Pratirodh Bureau With the mercury plummeting, thousands of homeless people continue to bear the harsh winter in the absence of sufficient night shelters in Jaipur city.   A survey released by the People's Union of Civil Liberties (PUCL), which voluntarily monitors the condition of night shelters, claims that 40% of these shelters have improper bedding facility. Also, many poor are still spending night in the open due to sufficient shelters.   Here is the survey...

-The Hindu Subsidies on cooking gas, kerosene and diesel have resulted in perverse outcomes not envisaged when they were introduced With the Aadhaar-based direct cash transfer scheme facing so many glitches in implementation, any hopes that the country’s energy sector can soon dismount the subsidy tiger it has been riding so dangerously have receded into the background. Had the Aadhaar scheme worked satisfactorily, the next logical step would have been to extend...

-The Hindu In a rather unusual move, the Railway Minister, P.K. Bansal, on Wednesday announced an across the board hike in passenger fares less than two months before he would be presenting the Railway Budget for 2013-14. The hike comes into effect from January 21. However, Mr. Bansal declared that there will be no further fare increase in the ensuing budget. The new hike will range from two paise per km on basic...

-The Business Standard Since cities have little money to cover operational costs of running buses, they do not invest in new buses or modern infra Liquor baron Ponty Chadha and his brother – both died recently in a fratricide – had another business that is not widely known. They had acquired the concession to run public transport buses in Delhi — three clusters with a combined fleet of 600-odd vehicles. Even before...

-Live Mint Consideration of land acquisition Bill deferred after opposition seeks more time to study new clauses India’s Parliament got down to business on Tuesday with the Lok Sabha passing two critical Bills, the Companies Bill, 2011, and the Banking Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2011, although it deferred consideration of the land acquisition Bill. The new Companies Bill, when it is enacted, is expected to improve the quality of corporate governance by strengthening...