Political and Social Issues:

In an attempt to lower the burgeoning subsidy bill, the Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas, R. P. N. Singh, on Monday called upon the affluent and rich sections of the society to come forward and give up use of subsidised domestic liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) cylinder and instead pay the full market rate.
The idea is to first have Ministers, MPs, bureaucrats and the senior management officials of public sector companies give up subsidised LPG voluntarily.
Other sections like corporate honchos and businessmen, who can afford market price, should then give up use of subsidised LPG
State-owned oil firms lose about Rs.75 crore a day on selling the fuel below its market price of Rs.686.26 a cylinder.

Expressing concern over the lot of homeless persons during the winter, the Supreme Court on Monday directed Delhi and other States to ensure that adequate shelters were provided for night stay.
The Bench observed that not a single person must be allowed to die from having to sleep on the pavement in the freezing cold.
The Bench was also not satisfied about the night shelters in the States of Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Bihar, Jharkhand, Haryana, Punjab, West Bengal, Assam, Maharastra, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, and Orissa.
The Jammu and Kashmir government informed the court that it did not have homeless people

Anti-graft legislation will dominate the Union Cabinet meeting
The drafts of the Whistleblowers' Bill, the Judicial Accountability Bill, the Citizens' Grievance Redress Bill and the Money Laundering Bill are all on the agenda, and all four are expected to get clearance.