The growth rate of petrol consumption is set to fall below 5% in the current fiscal, the first time in five years. Meanwhile, the consumption of diesel continues to grow at 7%, adding to the losses of the oil marketing companies on account of subsidies. In India, diesel is subsidized while petrol is not, and the price difference has led to more buyers opting for vehicles driven by the cheaper fuel. According...

A bidi-smoking petty contractor who suddenly bought two Boleros and a former newspaper hawker who zipped about Chhattisgarh’s jungles in a Toyota may hold the key to a question bugging the custodians of national security. What the police want to know is: are business houses paying off the Maoists to be able to operate deep inside central India’s mineral-rich guerrilla zones? Chhattisgarh police say that when contractor B.K. Lala’s bank account suddenly...

-AP   Efforts by India and the European Union to strengthen trade are threatening India's ability to deliver lifesaving medicines to the world's poorest, analysts say as the two sides push through protracted negotiations on a free-trade pact.  India's prime minister and top EU officials are hoping their summit Friday in New Delhi helps move beyond disagreements over issues like European labor market limits and Indian duties on Cars.  But health industry workers and...

-The Hindustan Times   The government is drafting the framework of a “white paper” on black money that it is likely to present before Parliament in the forthcoming budget session. The white paper, however, is unlikely to disclose any names of individuals or entities, despite the opposition’s demand to make public the names of those who are found have to stashed money in banks in overseas tax havens, sources told HT. The finance...

India has the worst air pollution in the entire world, beating China, Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh, according to a study released during this year’s World Economic Forum in Davos. Of 132 countries whose environments were surveyed, India ranks dead last in the ‘Air (effects on human health)’ ranking. The annual study, the Environmental Performance Index, is conducted and written by environmental research centers at Yale and Columbia universities with assistance from...