-Hindustan Times India should lead the charge for demanding a better deal on agricultural issues to counter rising protectionist tendencies in the West The 11th Ministerial Conference (henceforth ministerial) of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) begins on December 10 in Buenos Aires. Commerce minister Suresh Prabhu has downplayed the need for a permanent solution on public stockholding for food security as a peace clause already exists. He has even termed the demand...

-Livemint.com At a pre-budget consultation, farmers and agriculture economists call for steps to reduce input costs New Delhi: Farmers on Tuesday urged finance minister Arun Jaitley to statutorily ensure income security for them and simultaneously take steps to reduce input costs and thereby make farming profitable. The suggestions from the Consortium of Indian Farmers Associations (CIFA) and agriculture economists was made at the first of the pre-budget consultation. “The median agriculture income is...

-Hindustan Times Mumbai was third on the list behind Bangalore, with 39,617 cases, but the number declined as compared to 2015 when 42,940 cases were registered. Maharashtra has earned itself the dubious distinction of being the “most corrupt state” for the third year in a row. The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data, which was released on Thursday, revealed that there were 1,016 cases of corruption registered in 2016 in the state,...

-Hindustan Times/ Livemint.com TRAI in its new recommendations has backed the core principles of Net Neutrality. India’s telecom regulator has backed the basic principles of an open and free internet in its recommendations on net neutrality, a term which means people should get equal access to the internet and broadband providers should not favour any apps and services. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s guidelines released on Tuesday say that no internet access...

-Hindustan Times The human resource development ministry describes the self-help groups and cook-cum-helpers as pillars of the programme. New Delhi: The human resource development (HRD) ministry has asked states to get all midday meal cooks-cum-helpers trained by “master trainers” by the end of this year. In a letter sent to heads of state education departments, the ministry has suggested they can get the cook-cum-helpers in their jurisdiction trained by master chefs of the...