New Delhi: A meeting of Congress leaders from Union Territories convened by Rahul Gandhi on Friday saw strong pleas to make the Union Home Ministry pro-active to resolve the problems faced by the areas ahead of Lok Sabha polls. The leaders from Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Andaman and Nicobar islands, Lakshdweep, Daman and Diu as also Chandigarh impressed upon the Congress Vice President that since the Home Ministry is administering the areas, it needed to take special interest to address the problems of the people there.
Leaders from Andaman and Nicobar sought a subsidy in airfares to the islands on the lines available to the Northeastern region to ensure greater connectivity while those from Daman and Diu sought help for fishermen in the area. As regards Chandigarh, the issue of conversion of industrial plots from leasehold to freehold, which has been pending for a long time.
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01:18 AM, May 18, 2013
New Delhi: The Cabinet on Thursday cleared direct benefit transfer on LPG subsidy. The scheme was to be introduced on January 1, but was postponed two times, most recently because only 13 per cent of Aadhaar numbers among the beneficiaries chosen for the launch areas had bank accounts. Under a pilot project for LPG subsidy transfer, 20 districts in the country will be covered by May 15. While about 32...
09:49 PM, May 09, 2013
New Delhi: The Food Ministry has notified the the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) decision to partially decontrol the sugar sector. The Food Ministry has issued a gazette notification withdrawing the control over sugar industry through Essential Commodities Act and Sugar Control Order, sources said. On April 4, 2013, the CCEA had decided to decontrol the sugar sector by giving freedom to mills to sell sugar in the open...
02:08 AM, May 08, 2013
New Delhi: India said it expects to cut the subsidies on phosphate and potash-based fertilisers by about 15 per cent in the fiscal year that began in April in an effort to rein in the fiscal deficit. In the last fiscal year, the government earmarked Rs 305.76 billion to subsidise phosphate and potash-based fertilisers. Fertilisers are the third-biggest item in the government's total subsidy bill, amounting to over two per...
07:58 PM, May 01, 2013
New Delhi: The government plans to provide subsidy to 14 crore LPG subscribers directly in their bank accounts from October 1, using the Aadhaar payment platform. The government, official sources said, has decided to launch "Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) for LPG throughout the country tentatively from October 1". "This (transfer of LPG subsidy) would require a much larger number of beneficiaries to be covered for opening of bank accounts and...
12:41 PM, Apr 28, 2013
Chennai: Raising strong objections to certain aspects of Centre's Direct Benefits Transfer, Tamil Nadu chief Minister Jayalalithaa on Saturday said the scheme in its present form should "not be operationalised" in the state as it is an "infringement" on the authority of state governments. In a strongly worded letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Jayalalithaa wondered if the state governments were expected to look on as mere "bystanders", far removed...
02:31 AM, Apr 28, 2013
New Delhi: The government is planning to start transferring the subsidy for cooking gas in cash under the direct benefit transfer scheme, Finance Minister P Chidambaram said on Saturday. Addressing a media conference in Delhi, Chidambaram said he would soon meet Petroleum Minister Veerappa Moily and sort out the issues related to the direct cash transfer for liquified petroleum gas (LPG). "We want to quickly move the LPG subsidy to...
03:52 AM, Apr 07, 2013
Resisting the temptation of election-year populism, the General Budget on Thursday offered no major tax sops but slapped a surcharge on 'super-rich', raised duties on mobile phones, cigarettes and imported luxury vehicles and introduced tax deduction at source (TDS) on property sale above Rs 50 lakh. ...
05:22 PM, Feb 28, 2013
Aiming to bring down the fiscal deficit, Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Thursday sought to reduce major subsidies on fuel, food and fertilisers by 11 per cent to over Rs 2.20 lakh crore in 2013-14 fiscal compared to the revised estimates for the current fiscal. According to the Budget proposals, the government's subsidy bill on food, petroleum and fertilisers is estimated at Rs 2,20,971.50 crore for the 2013-14 fiscal as...
02:42 PM, Feb 28, 2013
Former RBI governor YV Reddy said that the government should increase fiscal expenditure, as the private sector cannot meet the rising demand for water, sanitation and public health. ...
04:12 PM, Feb 26, 2013
The Food Security Bill was cleared by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Friday. The Bill was passed despite members of the Opposition raising objections over coverage for the poor and quantity of grains supplied. ...
09:28 PM, Jan 11, 2013
The Oil Ministry has made a proposal to Cabinet to raise diesel prices and increase the number of subsidised LPG cylinders available to households to nine a year from the current cap of six, two oil ministry sources said on Wednesday. ...
05:59 PM, Jan 09, 2013
Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Veerappa Moily on Tuesday indicated that the cap on the number of subsidised LPG cylinders a family can buy per year could be raised. Speaking to reporters, Moily said that the cap could be raised from six cylinders to nine. ...
06:18 PM, Dec 11, 2012
Weeks ahead of roll out of the direct cash subsidy transfer scheme, the Petroleum Ministry on Tuesday said the plan will not be easy to implement because of the low base of people with the unique identity Aadhaar cards. The government has identified 51 districts for the roll out of the scheme in the first phase beginning January 1. ...
05:24 PM, Dec 11, 2012
Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh on Thursday opposed implementation of cash subsidy transfer under Public Distribution System (PDS), saying it was vulnerable to "misuse". In a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, he said any changes in the proposed system should only be done with the state governments' consent. ...
04:29 AM, Nov 30, 2012
Is the Congress's big ticket plan to directly transfer cash to social welfare beneficiaries working? After the pilot project was conducted in Delhi, many still prefer conventional ration to cash, even though the government claims around 84 per cent recipients prefer cash. ...
10:26 AM, Nov 29, 2012
The government has labelled direct cash transfer of subsidies a game changer. To do a ground check, CNN-IBN travelled to Alwar and found that cash transfer of the subsidy in kerosene has not been a roaring success. Beneficiaries complain they have received money only till May. ...
07:30 AM, Nov 28, 2012
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01:32 PM, Nov 26, 2012
The government will start direct cash transfer of subsidy amount to beneficiaries in 51 districts from the beginning of the next year and targets to introduce the new programme across the country by the end of 2013, Finance Minister P Chidambaram said on Saturday. ...
05:29 AM, Nov 25, 2012
New Delhi: The government on Sunday ruled out a rollback or modification of its decision to cap supply of subsidised cooking gas (LPG) at 6 cylinders per household in a year as it will cast a "shadow" on the whole reform process. "No, absolutely not. There is no change (in the September 13 decision)," a top government source said. The government had on September 13 decided to cap supply of...
03:39 PM, Oct 14, 2012
