Plans are afoot to cap the number of subsidised LPG cylinders at six to eight per annum to reduce the losses of state-run oil firms and bring down the burgeoning subsidy bill. Oil ministry officials said consumers might have to pay more for every additional cylinder, and the amount would be gradually linked to market rates. Sources said the finance ministry had asked the oil ministry to revisit its proposal made last...

The State finds a handy tool in a colonial law to quell dissent Wrong Arm Of The Law   Why ‘sedition’ rings hollow in India 2012 The law Section 124(A) of the Indian Penal Code, 1870; non-bailable offence The definition Whoever by words, either spoken or written, or by signs, or by visible representation, or otherwise, brings or attempts to bring into hatred or contempt, or excites or attempts to excite disaffection towards the government...

-The Times of India UPA's flagship rural guarantee scheme is performing fitfully in terms of work days, wages and coverage, amply confirming rural development minister Jairam Ramesh's fears that the programme has become a scheme for digging ditches. The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee, UPA's outreach to the poor, is not meeting critical parameters and is crying out for reform with questions about the utility a Rs 36,000-crore a year budget...

-The Hindu The State government has ordered the increase in daily wages for beneficiaries under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme to Rs.132 from Rs.119. Nearly 26.49 lakh persons will be benefited by the government’s gesture. This is part of the efforts made by Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, through various schemes, to improve the economy of rural households, considering the fact that villages are the lifeline of the State, stated an...

-The Hindustan Times Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi may have got a clean chit from the Supreme Court-appointed SIT in the Gulbarg Society massacre case, but may still run into trouble over a phone log CD, which reveals the number of calls exchanged by the accused with the top authorities, including calls received by the chief minister's office (CMO), during the 2002 riots. In a fresh development, the SIT has now...