-The Times of India Get ready to pay more for fuels shortly. The hike is likely to kick in soon after Parliament's budget session ends on May 22. In a clear indication of the inevitable, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee on Wednesday warned of "disastrous consequences" if "corrective steps" were not taken to deal with the problem of high oil prices and seemingly endless subsidy.  "Petroleum prices are increasing by leaps and bounds....

-Down to Earth Biometric-based unique identity or Aadhaar is leading to huge problems for people working for the rural employment guarantee scheme and for others receiving welfare benefits. Not only have enrolments been done shoddily but the experience of the pilot projects shows that it is almost impossible to authenticate the work-hardened fingerprints of the poor, find Latha Jishnu and Jyotika Sood. Besides, there is the overwhelming issue of deficient online...

-PTI   Spiralling international oil prices have put a strain on the country's import bill Stating that India faces "formidable" challenges on the energy front, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today said spiralling international oil prices have put a strain on the country's import bill and domestic prices need to be rationalised. "With imports accounting for about 80% of our crude supplies, the spiralling prices of crude in the international market have put a...

-PTI The government on Tuesday said it has agreed in-principle to deregulate diesel prices, but is not considering similar proposal for the cooking gas.  "Government has, in principle, agreed to make the prices of diesel market determined," Minister of State for Finance Namo Narain Meena said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha.  While petrol prices are market-linked, the government fixes the rates of LPG, Kerosene and diesel, which results in a...

-IANS Nearly 56 percent of families in Bihar have a mobile or landline connection, but about 77 percent of the population lack toilets, says a census report, highlighting the paradoxes in the state which has taken big leaps in development but also lagged behind in key areas. "Till 2001, only 2.2 percent families were using any kind of telecom facility in Bihar, now over half of its population owns a phone, as...