-The Business Standard Government taking steps to offer cooking gas to all rural households  India plans to provide affordable electricity to all households in the next five years, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said today. "The Government of India aims to provide 24x7 electricity to all households in the country and affordable access to electricity in the next 5 years," he said inaugurating an International Seminar on Energy Access organised by the Ministry of...

-PTI Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday decried creation of “mindless atmosphere of negativity and pessimism” on the corruption issue and promised to strengthen the anti-graft law by including corporate failure to prevent bribery as a new offence besides other steps. “The mindless atmosphere of negativity and pessimism that is sought to be created over the issue of corruption can do us no good. It can only damage the nation’s image and...

-The Hindu Proposed NIB would be illegal, she says Minister of State for Environment and Forests Jayanthi Natarajan has expressed “very serious concern” at the setting up of a National Investment Board to fast-track clearances of major infrastructure projects, saying the “concept is unacceptable,” documents exclusively obtained by The Hindu reveal. In a five-page letter sent to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on October 9, Ms. Natarajan said the proposal would upturn established procedures...

-The Hindu Jairam Ramesh concludes two days of intense negotiations The Central government will come halfway — literally — in its bid to prevent the thousands of landless poor now marching along National Highway 3 from actually reaching the capital. After two days of intense negotiations with the march’s organisers Ekta Parishad, Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh has decided to head to Agra — slightly before the halfway point of the Jan Satyagraha...

-The Indian Express The Supreme Court on Tuesday allowed the Centre to notify within a week its fresh guidelines on tiger conservation. It indicated that it may modify its July 24 order that stayed all tourism activities in tiger reserves. A Bench comprising Justices A K Patnaik and Swatanter Kumar said it will not let its directives on tiger conservation remain ‘open-ended’. The Bench made it clear that the states, if unhappy...