-Business Standard Environment ministry also plans to cut the two-stage mandatory clearances under the Environment Protection Act to a single stage, shaving six months from the process   The central government is working to substantially cut red tape at the environment ministry by doing away with multiple applications for all the green clearances that a project developer requires. A single comprehensive application would soon replace the existing multiple-window system. The environment ministry also plans...

-The Hindustan Times Raipur (Chhattisgarh): Eleven women have died and dozens more are in a critical condition after a government-run sterilisation programme in Chhattisgarh designed to control the country's billion-plus population went wrong, officials said on Tuesday. More than 50 women are seriously ill after suffering complications from the surgery in Bilaspur district over the weekend, authorities in Chhattisgarh said. "Reports of a drop in pulse, vomiting and other ailments started...

-The Hindu Business Line Now that the gains from the first round have petered out, we need to embrace biotech to boost farm productivity As India seeks to ignite the next agrarian revolution, it must try and absorb some of the lessons of the Green Revolution. Currently, agricultural productivity and growth vary from State to State, resulting in regional disparities. Through targeted policymaking, investment in rural infrastructure and research, and ongoing support...

-The Hindu Every effort needs to be made to reform MGNREGA, as it has been both a major success and a huge failure. The best way for this is to study carefully the conditions that made it a success and also to undertake a diagnostics of its failures An impression has gained ground in recent weeks that the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government at the Centre is inimical to the Mahatma Gandhi...

-The Hindu Business Line Output data is unreliable, which leaves us unprepared for shortages. And, farming practices are primitive The price of potatoes is once again moving up, largely due to the demand-supply gap in the market-place. The National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (Nafed) that was asked by the Ministry of Civil Supplies to explore the possibility of importing potatoes from Russia, China and Egypt, procured 3,500 tonnes of potatoes...