New Delhi The Vijay Kelkar committee has outlined a programme for the Centre to keep its budget deficit in check for the next three years, leaving the 14th Finance Commission (2015-2020) to decide on the action required in subsequent years.

The committee set up by the finance minister P Chidambaram for drawing a new fiscal consolidation road map, has proposed calibrated hikes in diesel and LPG prices, proactive disinvestment and measures to increase revenue buoyancy.

State governmnent has received Centre's approval for giving cash subsidy in lieu of kerosene quota through public distribution network, Food and Civil Supplies Minister Anil Deshmukh has said.

The Direct Transfer of Cash Subsidy (DTCS) scheme proposes to transfer the subsidy component of kerosene price to the beneficiary's account enabling him to buy it in open market.

New Delhi In a major boost to the Centre’s efforts to target subsidies to the neediest, 11 states have already signed up to the plan to transfer cash directly to the chosen beneficiaries to disburse kerosene subsidy.

The scheme aims to plug leakages in the public distribution system. The 2012-13 Budget had set aside a R100-crore incentive for states joining the scheme before March 31, 2013. This allocation has obviously worked.

Ration card holders will be given free gas connections in lieu of their kerosene quota

Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit on Tuesday distributed liquid petroleum gas (LPG) connection papers and stoves to 20 people at a function at Delhi Secretariat to mark the launch of a scheme that aims to make the Capital kerosene-free by December this year. Under the scheme 3.56 lakh Antodaya Anna Yojana (AAY), Below Poverty Line (BPL) and Jhuggi Ration Card (JRC) holders would be provided a free gas connection and a stove in lieu of their kerosene quota.

Delhi is set to become the first kerosene-free city in the country with the city government all geared up to launch an ambitious scheme on Tuesday under which 3.56 lakh households will get LPG cylinder and a gas stove free of cost.

Chief minister Sheila Dikshit had announced the scheme in her budget speech after the government came to a conclusion that subsidised kerosene does not reach intended beneficiaries and often ends up in the black market and is used in adulteration.

Forced to scale down petroleum retail operations, Reliance Industries Ltd and Essar have taken their predatory pricing complaint against government oil marketing companies (OMCs) to the Appellate Tribunal for Electricity.

In July, the PNGRB (petroleum and natural gas regulatory board) had dismissed a plea of these private fuel retailers against government oil marketing companies. Though the two companies are pursuing the case, Shell India has decided to withdraw.

The petroleum ministry and state oil firms plan to raise diesel and petrol prices next month as crude oil rose to a three-month high last week and diesel consumption has soared because of the weak

Petrol pricing may officially be out of the government’s control, but a veiled intervention by the government has resulted in Indian Oil Corp and other state-run oil marketing firms Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL) differing on what is the best solution. BPCL and HPCL see IndianOil's call for moving into a price control regime as a “retrograde step”.

The government's fuel pricing policy led IndianOil, India’s largest oil marketing company, to post the biggest-ever quarterly loss at Rs 22,451 crore in the April-June period. While the oil marketing companies are compensated for revenue losses on diesel, cooking gas and kerosene, they are forced to take losses on account of petrol on their books.

Nearly 402 families have been uprooted; rescue operations on with the help of the army and paramiltary forces; prime minister, UPA chairperson assures of all possible help

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna on Tuesday met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and sought a relief package of Rs 600-crore for the flood-hit state. Bahuguna, along with Union minister Harish Rawat and some of the MPs from the state called on the prime minister in New Delhi and apprised him of the situation arising from the recent devastation caused by flash floods.