Amid raging debate over freebies, the Rajasthan government has increased the number of kitchens under its ‘Indira Rasoi scheme’ providing nutritious food at a nominal price from Rs 358 to Rs 1,000. The expansion of one of the flagship schemes of the Rajasthan government, launched in August 2020, was stopped for two years due to the pandemic.

At least 20 ministers and MLAs have been demanding the opening of more Indira Rasois in their constituencies such as Dausa, Sawai Madhopur, Karauli, Dholpur, Jaipur and Kota. With the opening of new kitchens, the state government’s financial burden will go up by about Rs 150 crore annually. Out of 642 new kitchens, 46 will be in Jaipur.

Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party Lohia founder Shivpal Yadav has announced formation of a new organisation for the Yadav community, and said it will fight for the cause of social justice.

Yadav said the organisation -- Yadukul Renaissance Mission -- was not for or against any political party.

While Shivpal Yadav is the patron of the organisation, former MP from Sambhal DP Yadav is its president while writer Vishwatma is founder member of the Mission.

The Jharkhand government decided that it would pay Rs 2.06 crore for chartered plan services for a month.

On the unfortunate news of the death of a pregnant Indian woman in Portugal, India has  said that it is in touch with the family and the Indian Embassy there will provide all necessary assistance to them.

This comes as Portugal's Health Minister Marta Temido resigned on  Aug 30 after widespread criticism of her decision to temporarily close emergency obstetric services and forcibly transfer a pregnant Indian woman between hospitals.

Temido said that she "no longer has the conditions" to exercise the position, which the prime minister accepted

Her resignation was announced five hours after the news of the death of a pregnant woman in Lisbon.

The chairman of Russia's largest private oil company Lukoil  , Ravil Maganov , who died after falling from the sixth-floor window of a Moscow hospital window is alleged to have been murdered.

His company Lukoil was one of the few major Russian companies to call for the end of fighting in Ukraine after Moscow invaded.

Maganov is the second top Lukoil executive to die in mysterious circumstances in recent months.

Russian police opened a criminal case after the death of former Lukoil executive Alexander Subbotin in early May.

Lukoil, Russia’s second-largest oil company, was one of a handful of domestic corporations to openly call for an end to the country’s invasion of Ukraine in early March.

The long-serving head of Lukoil, Vagit Alekperov, resigned in June after being hit by Western sanctions.

Starbucks has named a longtime PepsiCo executive as its new CEO. The coffee giant said  that Laxman Narasimhan will join Starbucks on Oct. 1 after relocating from London to Seattle, where Starbucks is based.

He will work closely with Starbucks' interim CEO Howard Schultz through April 1, when he will assume the CEO role and join the company’s board.

Narasimhan, 55, was most recently CEO of Reckitt, a U.K.-based consumer health, hygiene and nutrition company that makes Lysol cleaner and Enfamil formula, among other products.

Prior to that, Narasimhan held various leadership roles at PepsiCo, including as global chief commercial officer. He also served as CEO of the company’s Latin America, Europe and Sub-Saharan Africa operations.

Narasimhan has also served as a senior partner at the consulting firm McKinsey & Co., where he focused on its consumer, retail and technology practices in the U.S., Asia and India.

Schultz, a longtime CEO who helped shape Starbucks after buying it in 1987, came out of retirement and assumed the interim CEO job in March after the company's former CEO, Kevin Johnson, announced his retirement. Schultz also returned to the company's board, and will remain there even after Narasimhan takes over.

Schultz said he had not planned to return, but wanted to help reshape the company after the pandemic, which upended Starbucks' coffee shops and sped changes including a heavier mix of drive-thru orders.

After breaching 600 crore level in July, the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) has clocked 657 crore transactions in August, a 5% month-on-month growth compared to the previous month. The transaction volume has crossed Rs 10.72 lakh crore in August.

The government  has increased the excise duty on the export of diesel and aviation turbine fuel (ATF) and also raised the windfall profit tax on domestically-produced crude oil.

The Finance Ministry, in its fourth fortnightly review, increased excise to Rs 13.5 per litre from Rs 7 per litre on the export of diesel and Rs 9 from Rs 2 per litre on the export of jet fuel or ATF.  It has also raised the windfall tax on domestically-produced crude oil from Rs 13,000 to Rs 13,300 per tonne. The new levies come into effect from 1 September 2022.

The government, to control the price and supply of oil in the domestic market, introduced windfall profit taxes on July 1, 2022. It also imposed export duties of Rs 6 per litre on petrol and aviation turbine fuel and Rs 13 a litre on diesel.

The ministry also levied Rs 23,250 per tonne windfall profit tax on domestic crude production. Though the oil prices have cooled down since then, it eroded the profit margin of oil producers and suppliers. India’s crude oil import basket, which was $105.49 per barrel in July 2022 and $116.01 in June 2022, has come down to $97.40 per barrel in August 2022. 

The government has adjusted levies in the previous three rounds on July 20, August 2 and August 19. In its last revision on August 19, the ministry had reduced the windfall tax on petroleum crude to Rs 13,000 per tonne from Rs 17,750 per tonne after crude oil prices reached 6 month low.