The Centre is planning to increase the spending on social activities with a rise in government revenue, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said here today. "With rise in government revenues we will increase it further," he said at the inauguration of a Union Bank branch in the Murshidabad district. The government is keeping aside a major portion of the budget for social activities and this share is going up from Rs 2.43 lakh...

With fresh arrivals of onions from Gujarat, Rajasthan and Maharashtra, Central agencies on Monday announced their decision to sell them through their outlets at Rs. 35 a kg, setting it as a benchmark price. The variety, however, was poor in quality and low in quantity. In the retail open market and retail chains, onion prices remained around Rs. 50 a kg, garlic price was unchanged between Rs. 250 and Rs. 280...

Thirty years ago, in an act I still feel guilty about, I woke up a very great Indian from his sleep. I was volunteering at a conference in New Delhi, and had been asked to fetch the Member of Parliament from Dhanbad, AK Roy, from his quarters in Vithalbhai Patel House. Roy, a labour leader legendary for his integrity and his wide range of reading, had been elected from the...

Large queues outside the ration shop across Maharashtra could become a thing of the past, if the State Government manages to implement a new scheme for distributing foodgrains in the vicinity of people's houses. Under the scheme, the two-and-a-half crore ration card holders registered under the Public Distribution System (PDS) in the State, instead of getting a monthly quota of grains from the ration shop, will get three, six or 12...

A farmer died of broken heart over meagre assistance that he got from the government for the crop loss he suffered two years ago. Venna Peddaseshi Reddy (50) of Peddagarlapadu village, 15 km away from here, raised paddy, cotton and red chilli on two acres of his own land and two more acres on lease as a tenant. He lost all the three crops due to the rains in October and...