The demolition drive followed by massive protests in Ganesh Krupa Society, Mumbai have yet again raised questions on policies for rehabilitation of the urban poor. Newsclick speaks to PK Das, Mumbai based architect-activist, on his experience and functioning of the state machinery.

The financial crisis in Greece has demonstrated the limitations of Eurozone as it exists today. Newsclick speaks to Professor Jayati Ghosh analysing the possibilities ahead. 'Things have gone worse from bad', says Prof. Ghosh, "since I spoke to you (Newsclick) a year ago"

Newsclick presents a feature on the fuel price hike. Newsclick examines justifications provided by government spokespersons, details their critiques and ascertains the level of distress faced by the "aam aadmi".

 Surya Sethi questions the rationale for the fuel price hike recently for essential petroleum products. He explains why the logic of "rising underrecoveries" is flawed, and that the energy sector in India is not "net subsidised" as is widely reported as an excuse for the hikes and asks the government to be sensitive to the needs of poor Indians.

Prominent Italian Journalist and Leftist political activist Marco Berlinguer is interviewed on Skype on the Indignats movement in Spain.

 A rudder-less United Progressive Alliance has convinced no one that it is acquiring some kind of anchor by shuffling its crew on a burning deck.

Former principal advisor (energy) to the Planning Commission, Surya Sethi comments on the recent CAG draft report on the Production Sharing Contract between the government and Reliance Industries Limited for exploration of gas in the Krishna Godavari Basin.

Yesterday, the UPA government raised the price of LPG cylinders by Rs 50, the price of diesel by Rs 3 and price of kerosene by Rs 2. This is the umpteenth time since the government of the 'aam admi' has increased the prices of essential commodities for the common people. This huge increase in the prices of essential commodities comes in the backdrop of a situation where the inflation rate of the country is very high.

That this government has lost all sense of proportion is evident from the arguments ranging from ridiculous to the outrageous made by its senior leaders to justify the recent increase in prices of essential fuel supplies. Embroiled in the wave of corruption, the present dispensation, which has scant regard to the livelihood of millions of poor people, has lost all moral authority to govern this country. 

As we discussed in our KG Basin Gas scam first part, there are various dimensions to the scam. In this part, we will focus on two issues – one, the impact of share of revenue due to inflating of capital costs; two, specific item of the increase to indicate how the books have been cooked to benefit Reliance.