The finance ministry will release Rs 38,500 crore from the budget for cash-strapped state-run oil marketing companies (OMCs). Also, the Department of Expenditure has directed state-run upstream firms ONGC, Oil India and GAIL India to shell out an additional Rs 1,640 crore — over the Rs 53,360 crore indicated earlier — as their share of the subsidy burden.

Interventions to fight malnutrition must be simultaneous with outcomes being monitored by an overarching body. The finance minister’s Budget 2012 speech contains the much-awaited, much-needed paradigm shift in government’s approach to reduce undernutrition and micronutrient deficiency, the indicators of which are fast qualifying India as the malnutrition capital of the world. It is now clear that high growth rates are not automatically translating into better nutritional indicators, though there is marginal improvement in infant and mortality indicators, as per SRS 2009.

The policy will include increasing the floor space index & easing of density norms

An affordable housing policy is in the works to attract developers and to meet the shortage of around 25 million houses in the country. The Union Budget had announced access to external commercial borrowing (ECB) for affordable housing but the industry wasn't excited due to low margins in this category. Now, the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation (Mhupa) is in the process of framing an affordable housing policy, expected to be finalised in two months.

After patting on the back by announcing that he would give one per cent of the annual budget of the ministry for rural development (`99,000 crores) to the ministry of panchayati raj, Union minister Jairam Ramesh is faced with reality check — that it is not he who can do so, but Parliament only.

A few weeks ago, Union minister for rural development Jairam Ramesh announced that one per cent of his ministry’s annual budget, which would come to about `990 crores, would be given to the panchayati raj ministry.

Despite new lakes being announced every year in its budget, the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) has been found wanting when it comes to their upkeep. Mid-way through the summer, some of the major lakes in the city have already dried or are close to drying up. The water levels have gone down drastically in some of the bigger lakes, including Kankaria, Vastrapur and Lambha, while Chandola in Danilimbda has completely dried up. The source of water for almost all these lakes, including the eleven under the interlinking project, is storm water.

Extends exemption from basic customs duty & CVD indefinitely, to give relief to hard-pressed industry

The Finance Bill passed by the Lok Sabha yesterday, to give effect to the Union Budget proposals, has removed the 2014 time bar it had earlier proposed on the duty exemption for thermal coal. In its earlier Budget proposals, the finance ministry sought to exempt thermal coal (also called steam coal, and used in thermal power generation) from the basic customs duty of five per cent and the concessional countervailing duty of one per cent till March 31, 2014.

The move has been proposed in order to discourage consumption of subsidised diesel by personal vehicle owners

The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas is demanding an increase in excise duty on diesel cars with a view to discouraging consumption of subsidised fuel by personal vehicle owners. "A proposal was received from Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas for levy of additional excise duty on diesel cars along with their suggestions for Budget 2012-13," Minister of State for Finance S S Palanimanickam said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha.

Gandhinagar: Amid loud talk about spread of canal irrigation, especially Narmada-based, leading to asharp fall in the amount of electricity going into the farm sector, a recent Planning Commission document has revealed just the opposite.

Titled “Annual Report 2011-12 on Working of State Power Utilities and Electricity Departments”, the document, prepared by the power and energy division of the Planning Commission, has found no decrease in the share of agriculture in the total sale of power in Gujarat.

CHENNAI: Seven Common Effluent Treatment Plant (CETP) projects in Tirupur have got the green signal by the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board, according to Minister for Handlooms and Textiles Dr S Sundararaj.

According to the policy note of handlooms and textiles tabled in the assembly, the government has to set up 18 CETPs at a cost of Rs 742.93 crore following the directions from the Supreme Court and High Court.

A parliamentary standing committee has taken a grim view of constant pruning of budget of agriculture ministry. It has asked the Centre to adopt a fresh outlook towards allocation of finances to the sector as it sustains economically weak farming community.