-The Hindu Coastal people allege the storm has exposed basic flaws in the system Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala): Cyclone Ockhi not only left a trail of destruction across South Kerala, but also raised questions over the State’s preparedness to deal with major natural calamities affecting tens of thousands of families. Even as the Coast Guard, Navy, and Air Force began efforts to rescue over 150 fishermen reported missing at sea, coastal communities allege that the...

-The Hindu The next few quARTers call for focus on consumption, private investment, agriculture and exports There was a collective sigh of relief when the second quARTer GDP data were released officially by the Central Statistics Office (CSO). The government folks were relieved that a declining trend of four consecutive quARTers of growth had finally been reversed. The forecasters and economists were relieved that the announced data had mostly conformed to their expectations....

-Business Standard The Commission says incentives for states will be decided, among others, by "control or lack of it in incurring expenditure on populist measures" New Delhi: States offering debt waivers or slipping on centrally funded programmes, such as Swacch Bharat, could get penalised, according to the terms set for the 15th Finance Commission. The terms of reference of the Commission, set up by the central government this week, makes these conditions...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The highlight of the gross domestic product (GDP) data for July-September quARTer is the overall growth rate of 6.3 per cent, the first time pace of economic growth has increased in six quARTers. It suggests that the marked slide we witnessed over the last year has finally stopped. However, a look at the disaggregated data shows that the economy is still struggling. A comparison of the...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The Centre has initiated moves to withdraw its controversial May 23 notification banning sale of cattle for slaughter in livestock markets and will bring an amended version specifying dos and don'ts intended to prevent cruelty to animals and address safety and hygiene issues. The environment ministry has written to the law ministry seeking its view on withdrawal of the notification so it can bring an amended...