The government may find it easier to decontrol the prices of petrol and diesel from next week, with softening global rates requiring an increase of merely Rs 3.50 a litre.
An EGoM headed by finance minister Pranab Mukherjee is due to meet on Monday to consider the Kirit Parikh Committee’s recommendations, which include freeing of petrol and diesel prices from government control, besides steep hikes in LPG and kerosene rates to cut fuel subsidies.

The Central Information Commission (CIC) has decided to approach the Supreme Court in connection with the Delhi high court order saying that the CIC had no powers to frame rules for hearing of appeals. The matter had earlier virtually divided the CIC with some information commissioners continuing to hear the appeals as per procedure laid out.

India on Thursday made it clear that it couldn’t be expected to open its markets beyond its obligation in the WTO negotiations without reciprocal gains.
“No market access above the level of what is there can be given for free. If countries agree to give, they have to be paid for it. This is the language of WTO,” said India’s chief negotiator at the World Trade Organisation D. K. Mittal at a Ficci conference.

Minister of state for civil aviation Praful Patel said Thursday that the government was considering setting up an independent safety board on the lines of America’s National Trans-portation Safety Board (NTSB) to probe all accidents, and also planning legislation to vest further powers with the DGCA, the civil aviation regulator.

In an effort to promote India as a filming destination for film producers from other countries the Union information and broadcasting ministry has, in association with industry body Assocham, decided to create awareness regarding the legal and tax considerations in the country.

Oil and petrochemicals major Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) may be planning a major expansion of its petrochemical capacity to make plastics, rubber and other chemicals.

A young pilot, who was declared a proclaimed offender, along with his two relatives, has been arrested by the special cell of the Delhi police on Wednesday on the charges of human trafficking.

In view of the suspected pilot error that led to the Mangalore air crash, the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Wednesday issued fresh directives telling airlines and pilots that “landings should be judged not by how soft the landing has been, but if it has been made at the correct speed and touchdown zone of the runway”. The

The maximum temperature in the city on Wednesday was recorded at 42.8 degrees Celsius, which was nearly two degrees less than Tuesday’s maximum of 44.1 degrees. However, the minimum temperature, recorded at 34.2 degrees Celsius, was up by more than six degrees Celsius over Tuesday’s minimum of 28.2 degrees. It is the highest minimum temperature recorded on June 2 in the last five years. A dust haze hung over the city for the better part of the day.

Farid Tanasha (37), a henchman of Chhota Rajan, was shot dead at his residence in Tilak Nagar at Chembur by half a dozen assailants on Wednesday night. Tanasha was not only a key Rajan aide in Mumbai but also a top informer for the Intelligence Bureau and the Crime Branch.