-The Times of India NEW DELHI: As the Election Commission prepares for a 100% rollout of VVPATs and mandatory counting of paper trail slips in a fixed percentage of polling stations across all constituencies, a preliminary estimation by the watchdog indicates the move will lead to a three-hour delay in declaration of poll result. According to sources in the commission, an internal committee set up by EC to discuss the modalities of...

Apart from gross domestic product (GDP) and gross value added (GVA), another indicator which shows whether an economy is thriving or stagnating is the growth in bank credit. Credit is a critical input in the production of goods and services. It is generally the case that during prosperous times, economic actors, who are engaged in different sectors or in various industry, take up bank loans to invest. The provisional data...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Residents of Delhi who are unable to have surgeries at any government hospital in the city can now get free surgery in 48 private hospitals without having to worry about huge bills. The bills, for which no upper limit has been set, will be paid by the Delhi government. "We lay emphasis on health and education, there will be no dearth of funds for this...

-The Times of India Continuing suicides and intermittent protests by farmers across the country prompted the Supreme Court on Thursday to ask why the much publicised Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMBFY) had not provided relief to the hapless farmers. While the government said that it is the first year and they are ironing out the problems, a look at the details of this first year's implementation throws up more systemic...

-The Times of India BENGALURU: Major post-harvest losses of the mango value chain - from farmer to local market -- due to improper handling, transportation, grading, packaging and storage has finally caught the attention of the government, just as the season draws to a close. To stem these losses, the government is now looking to introduce a system of organic certification to increase scientific harvesting and storage of the fruit. According to...