The government has begun consultations on disposal of surplus coal from captive mines amid differences among various ministries over the subject.

New Delhi Rural development minister Jairam Ramesh on Tuesday reiterated his opposition to the food ministry’s proposal for providing grain as part-payment of wages under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA).

“The work carried out under the food-for-work programme was really of bad quality and we do not want to repeat the same mistake,” Ramesh said after getting Parliament nod for the changes in NREGA, which allows atleast 30 new works to be taken up under the mega job-guarantee scheme.

The government plans to empower the regulator being set up for the coal sector with the authority to decide pricing. The proposal, if implemented, would deprive state-owned Coal India (CIL) the freedom it currently enjoys in fixing and revising prices of its output.

“The regulator’s primary function would be to set the prices of raw coal. A note on the Coal regulatory Authority Bill, 2010, has been sent to the Cabinet,” said a senior coal ministry official. He, however, added the authority would not have the power to grant or cancel mining licences.

The ministry of power has made it mandatory to procure transmission services for new projects through a rate-based competitive regime. The objective is to increase private participation in the development of electricity infrastructure.

Till now, eight inter-state transmission projects have been allotted on the basis of competitive bidding at an estimated cost of about Rs 14,000 crore. Intra-state transmission projects will also move towards a rate-based competitive system from January 2013, according to a statement issued by the ministry of power.

Though, the new draft of National Water Policy has favoured privatisation of water-delivery services and tariff hike, members of a working panel of the Planning Commission are strongly divided over

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.

The Planning Commission has approved special assistance of Rs 117.34 crore to Leh district for permanent restoration of works and reclamation of agricultural lands damaged in the August 2010 cloudb

The statistics pertaining to income and expenditures of the citizens presented by the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) on Thursday has revealed that food accounted for about 57 per cent o

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.

State gets a pat from Planning Commission for good performance

The Annual Plan for Odisha for 2012-13 was on Friday pegged at Rs.17,250 crore at a meeting here between Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia and State Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. Initiating the discussions, Mr. Ahluwalia said the State's Plan performance during 2011-12 had been satisfactory and the government's efforts towards improving the human development indicators were laudable.