Banning of future trading of essential commodities is recommended by Working Group on Consumer Affairs. Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi, on Wednesday, submitted the report prepared by the group to Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh which also included other suggestions to tackle inflation. Unlike the usual practice of voluminous reports, the committee submitted to the PM a precise document with 20 recommendations and 64 detailed actionable points. Besides ban on future trading,...

United Nation Development Programme's India Urban Poverty Report, 2009 has pegged the number of slum dwellers in Uttar Pradesh at 44 lakh. The sample survey, which was conducted under the 58th round of the National Sample Survey Organisation, also suggests that UP is next only to Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh, where 1.2 crore and 52 lakh urban poor are apparently living. The high numbers, however, it appears, are not the only...

The workers covered under the purview of the scheme now will be drawing wages at Rs. 119 a day A section of society feels that the works assigned will be of no use The increase in the wages under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) that came into effect in the district a few days ago has evoked varied response n the district. The workers covered under the purview of...

Ban futures trading in essential commodities, says Modi report As chairman of the working group on consumer affairs, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi has recommended that futures trading in essential commodities be banned and that organised retail in agri-produce be encouraged to make a dent in food inflation. The working group, comprising the Chief Ministers of Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh, was set up in April last. Mr. Modi...

A growing number of endangered olive ridley sea turtles have been getting killed in Eastern India’s coastal state Orissa by mechanized vessels defying a fishing ban on one of the world’s largest turtle sanctuaries, Gahirmatha. While the government said "no more than 800" were killed since November last year, environmentalists counter that the casualty count of these tiny turtles is actually 5,000. The problem illustrates the situation that confronts Orissa and other...