NEW DELHI: India will for the first time introduce a vaccine against Rubella - a viral disease that infects pregnant women and leads to babies being born with cardiac, cerebral, ophthalmic and auditory defects. The Union health ministry so far believed that the disease, also called German Measles, did not affect Indians. Now, the ministry estimates that around 30,000 abnormal children are being born annually because of Rubella. Many experts, however, say the accurate figure would be around two lakh babies.

Rejecting railway minister Mukul Roy's move to roll back hike in passenger fare, CAG said the way forward for the national transporter is to rationalize both passenger and freight tariffs to tide over the severe financial crunch. The government auditor observed that railways is in the red, and has not been able to meet the escalating cost of operating passenger and other services.

With no new polio cases being reported for more than a year, India’s experience of containing the dreaded virus is now being replicated in Pakistan. Following the example of its India chapter, the Pakistani arm of Rotary International has adopted several strategies that have proved to be winners in India. In 2011, 198 polio cases were reported in Pakistan and this year 16 cases have been reported so far, and that too excluding the Federally Administered Tribal Areas.

Pointing out that higher fertiliser subsidy on urea has led to unbalanced fertiliser usage in parts of the country, Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar on Tuesday sought the support from MPs to incentivise the subsidy towards balanced fertiliser usage. “Initially, the government focussed on enhancing fertiliser usage. As a result, agricultural productivity was increased by 50 per cent with the help of fertilisers during the first Green Revolution. But now we find that the increased fertiliser usage is not witnessing commensurate productivity increase.

NEW DELHI: Expressing concern over recent tiger deaths in the country, Environment and Forests Minister Jayanthi Natarajan said her ministry is constantly looking into the reasons for it. "We will have to take a look at the reasons. 17 are natural deaths, and we will look into the other deaths. We are constantly looking at the reasons. Well, poaching, you know, is an important reason which we are actively considering. The other reasons if it is a man- animal conflict we are already addressing those causes," Natarajan told media.

NEW DELHI: Reliance Industries has reported that natural gas production from its eastern offshore KG-D6 fields has dropped to about 32.66 million standard cubic meters per day. Gas output from KG-D6 in the week ended May 6 dropped to 32.66 mmscmd from 33.89 mmscmd in April, according to a status report filed by the company with the Oil Ministry.

KG-D6, where water and sand ingress coupled with drop in pressure has led a drastic fall in per-well output, had produced 34.62 mmscmd in the beginning of March.

Coal India has so far entered into pacts with 14 power plants for the supply of fossil fuel, while some have refused to sign it due to their objections on some of the clauses of the model fuel supply agreement. "Till now 14 power units have entered into fuel supply pact with Coal India (CIL). The last unit with which the PSU has signed FSA is CESC," a source close to the development said.

The development follows power ministry seeking the intervention of the Prime Minister's Office to resolve issues related to CIL's new fuel supply agreement.

Assures house there will be no compromise on safety of atomic plants

Strongly favouring nuclear power, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today said there would be no compromise on safety of atomic plants and it would be harmful to close the additional source of energy. "It would be harmful for the country to pass an ordinance on denial of nuclear power," Singh said replying to supplementaries during Question Hour in the Lok Sabha.

New Delhi With no political consensus as yet to allow the foreign direct investment (FDI) in multi-brand retail, India needs to undertake structural reforms urgently to curb food inflation that surged to a 15-month high of 10.49% in April on dearer vegetables and protein-based products.

Economists said these reforms should focus on four fundamental aspects: raising productivity, curbing wastages, better distribution and delivery system, and ensuring fair returns to producers to keep them engaged in the farm sector.