In the wake of reports of widespread misuse of the Transport Subsidy Scheme, the Planning Commission is evaluating the scheme afresh. The Ministry of Commerce and Industry has clarified today, that it has not released Transport Subsidy Scheme during the current financial year. This fiscal, only Rs 1 crore has been earmarked under the scheme, pending its evaluation by the Planning Commission. This was revealed by Union Minister of State for Industry and Commerce, Ashwani Kumar in a Lok Sabha reply, on Tuesday.

In reply to a question in Lok Sabha on April 21, 2008, the Food and Agriculture Minister, Sharad Pawar admitted that while a total of 102.8 million ration cards against BPL (below poverty line) people were issued, there were actually in the country only 65.2 million BPL families. It means that 37 million below poverty line-card holders or as much as 35 per cent of India's total number of beneficiaries under public distribution system do not exist in actuality.

Following soaring fuel prices in the international market, the Guinean government has suspended its long-used subsidies on diesel and petrol. The government had used the subsidies to quell tensions

Inflation is going through the roof but if you are poor and a resident of Andhra Pradesh, you are not likely to feel the pinch. It's not because of Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy's ability to rein in prices, but because of his penchant for unabashed electoral populism. The relaunch by the Congress Government of the subsidised rice scheme

Dubai: In a renewed effort to achieve a global trade deal under Doha Round of multilateral talks, trade ministers of India and the US will meet next week to bridge differences on farm subsidies and opening markets for industrial and agricultural products. "I am meeting USTR (Susan Schwab) on May 6. We are trying to see how we can converge,' commerce and industry minister Kamal Nath said during his recent visit here.

Americans are in sticker-shock over grocery prices, while people in developing countries are rioting over food shortages. And across the heartland, American farmers are enjoying record incomes, but losing sleep over rising expenses and turbulence in the commodity futures markets. Here on Capitol Hill, though, it is pretty much farm politics as usual.

One of the hardest concepts for a new student of monetary economics to grasp is that of a "bank run'

As Union commerce minister Kamal Nath studies India's negotiation dockets in preparation for a mid-May World Trade Organisation (WTO) ministerial meet in Geneva, a sort of last-ditch attempt to strike a Doha Round deal before a change of US leadership, some voices have emerged in favour of softening the country's stance on farm sector issues.