-The Times of India Is urban India drowning in its own excreta? Nearly 80% of the sewage generated in India flows untreated into its rivers, lakes and ponds, turning the water sources too polluted to use. The end result: groundwater in almost the entire country has nitrate levels higher than the prescribed levels - a result of sewage leaching into India's groundwater aquifers. These grave figures were revealed at a meeting of...

-The Telegraph Public sector oil marketing companies yesterday raised the prices of diesel sold to bulk consumers like the railway and defence by Rs 1.20 a litre despite protests in Parliament last week. At the same time, oil companies reduced the price of domestic non-subsidised Cooking gas by Rs 38 for a 14.2 kg cylinder. Following the revision, Cooking gas will be sold at Rs 933 a cylinder in Calcutta and neighbouring areas...

-The Times of India Despite the recent hype, one of the key drivers of women's empowerment — jobs for women — remains neglected and forgotten by policymakers. A recently released survey shows that more women are remaining home-bound doing domestic duties than a decade ago, even though a large number of them are willing to work. These are some of the findings of a report of the National Sample Survey Organisation...

-The Asian Age Sonia Gandhi’s economic and political ideology may have apparently triumphed over that of Manmohan Singh. The neo-liberal finance minister Palaniappan Chidambaram may be conveying an impression that he’s turned socialist with a vengeance by increasing taxes on the rich in the run-up to the 16th general elections. But the truth is that Mr Chidambaram has made certain assumptions about subsidies, inflation and the expected growth of gross domestic product...

-The Hindu The Economic Survey has said that the proportion of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) subsidies that goes to the poor, in both rural and urban areas, was low. This finding is bound to provide fuel to the debate on whether the rich should continue to be supplied Cooking gas at subsidised rate. Making a case for containing subsidies through better targeting, the Survey said the reach of subsidies on LPG “is...