Twenty-two organisations from across the country have written to members of the National Water Resources Council (NWRC) and chief ministers, demanding that village gram sabhas, wards in cities and

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh struck a downbeat note on the challenges facing the Indian economy on Thursday, dubbing a five-year plan for average growth of 8 percent "ambitious".

India's GDP growth has languished below 6 percent for three straight quarters, a far cry from the near-double-digit pace of expansion before the 2008 global financial downturn.

Take less than 2 mt of the 30 mt offered by CIL

Even as power companies have been complaining about a severe fuel shortage, they have failed to lift the extra coal offered to them by Coal India Ltd (CIL) from its stocks as emergency relief on the government’s instruction. Experts say the companies could be using the inflated perception of coal shortage to create grounds for price pooling, to source imported coal at cheaper rates.

State had projected Rs 68,000 cr worth needs

JAMMU: Jammu and Kashmir was all set to get Rs 44,000 crore for the 12th Five Year Plan, which has begun from the current financial year of 2012-13 as against the demand of Rs 68,000 projected by it before the Union Government and the Planning Commission of India in separate communications and meetings.

The Planning Commission has set a target for the pharmaceutical industry to reach $100 billion by 2020 and account for five per cent share of the global drug industry in the next five years.

The Cabinet note on pooling the price of coal through blending domestic fossil fuel with imported coal costs is likely to be placed before the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) next month.

“It was further agreed that the note on pooled prices would be placed for CCEA’s consideration by the third week of January,” said the minutes of a meeting, which was held recently under the chairmanship of Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister, Pulok Chatterji. The meeting was attended by Coal Secretary S K Srivastava and Power Secretary Uma Shankar, among others.

During the year, govt also contemplated to open up sector for commercial mining

Coal fired a minefield of controversies in 2012, fuelled by CAG estimates of a huge Rs 1.86 lakh crore loss for allocation of coal blocks to business houses without auction which served as fodder to the Opposition parties to target the government. The blaze started from a leaked draft report of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) that initially had a figure of Rs 10.6 lakh crore loss resulting from the controversial allocation of coal blocks to about 100 companies without bidding.

Difficult terrains, delays in nods, inhabitations in wildlife sanctuaries major impediments to power supply electricity

Chhattisgarh will bear an additional subsidy of Rs. 2,300 crore

Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh does not favour proposed cash transfer for food and will not implement the scheme in his State.

“Food security means taking food to people’s doorstep,” he told journalists here on Saturday. The Chief Minister said that while cash transfer may be okay for fertilisers and other welfare schemes, it was not required as a substitute for grains. “If you give Rs. 600 in the hands of a poor person without a proper banking system, banks being far-flung and fluctuations in food prices, the idea will not work.”

Seeking to make Gujarat a major destination for holidayers, the state tourism policy, to be announced early next year, will be offering several incentives for investors.

Apart from improving the infrastructure and amenities in the established spots around the state, the policy would aim at promoting private investments in a host of new destinations, including the coastline, Gujarat Tourism Commissioner Sanjay Kaul said.