New Delhi, Feb 16: Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee today said that the Government proposes to substantially expand the Panchayat Empowerment and the Accountability Scheme (PEAIS) by making suitable allocations in order to empower the Panchayats and put in place accountability systems to make their functioning transparent and efficient.

New Delhi, Feb 16 : The Ministry of Coal today clarified that the Central Coalfields Ltd. (CCL) and the Bharat Coking Coal Ltd. (BCCL), PSUs under the administrative control of the Coal Ministry, have been regularly filing their annual return, profit and loss account and balance sheet with the Registrar of Companies (RoC), in full compliance with the relevant provisions of the Companies Act, 1956.

Further, these accounts were duly audited both by the statutory auditors and the Comptroller and Auditor General of India.

New Delhi, Feb 16: A number of reforms undertaken by the UPA Government in the last four years has deepened and widened securities market and strengthened the regulatory mechanisms for these markets.

Highlighting the various initiatives taken by the Government, the Finance Minister, Pranab Mukherjee, in his Interim Budget Speech for the year 2009-2010 in the Lok Sabha today said that systems and practices have been put in place to promote a safe, transparent and efficient market to protect market integrity.

New Delhi, Feb. 16 : The Oil and natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) has entered into a strategic alliance with M/s Weatherford, a leading international oilfield service provider to jointly work in various areas.

New Delhi, Feb 16: Public sector oil companies have announced a slash of 3.7 per cent in the prices of Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF), the tenth reduction since last September.

The slash in prices came into effect from Sunday midnight.

Jet fuel prices in Delhi were slashed to Rs 29,158 per kilolitre from Rs 30,288 per kilolitre.

In Mumbai, ATF rates went down by Rs 1,191 per kilolitre to Rs 29,985 per kilolitre.

ATF prices rose to Rs 71,028.26 per kilolitre in Delhi in August 2008 with the peaking of global crude oil prices to 147 dollars a barrel.

Since then, fuel prices have been slashed every month and decreased twice in November.

New Delhi, Feb 16: US civil rights leader Martin Luther King III will meet Minister of State for External Affairs Anand Sharma here today.

On Sunday, an American delegation visited Rajghat, the memorial to the Father of Nation, Mahatma Gandhi.

Naming Mahatma Gandhi as the greatest human being of all times, Martin Luther King III termed this visit to India as a rare honour.