-PTI An additional investment of Rs 1,15,660 crore would be required to revitalise the agriculture sector and boost production to meet the foodgrains demand under the proposed Food law, Parliament was informed today.  "To effectively implement the proposed Food Security Act, it is estimated that there should be an additional production of about 70-75 million tonnes of foodgrains," Minister of State for Agriculture Harish Rawat said in a written reply to Lok...

Parliament must use budget session to discuss key pending bills The budget session of Parliament begins today. The last few sessions have been characterised by disruptions and consequent loss of productive time. To see one indicator, the 15th Lok Sabha, half-way through its term, has lost 30 per cent of scheduled time — the worst ever. As a result, many important bills have been pending. It is to be seen whether...

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Science and Technology, Environment and Forests, which examined ‘The Nuclear Safety Regulatory Bill, 2011,' has suggested the establishment of a Council of Nuclear Safety (CNS) to oversee and review the policies related to radiation/nuclear safety in the country. According to the report of the Committee, presented to Rajya Sabha Chairman Hamid Ansari a few days ago, by its chairman and member from Andhra Pradesh T. Subbarami...

Funding agency for rural NGOs may be on its last legs IT IS a government agency that was set up specially to fund non-profits working on rural development. But of late the Council for People’s Action and Advancement of Rural Technology (CAPART) has been plagued by allegations of corruption and inefficiency. After a few failed attempts to reform CAPART, the government has now decided to overhaul the agency which has close...

States are opposed to provisions of the bill that seek to mandate who are the beneficiaries of the proposed law The UPA can face a political alignment against the National Food Security bill similar to what it did on the National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC). Major states are opposed to provisions of the bill that seek to mandate who are the beneficiaries of the proposed law.  J Jayalalithaa in Tamil Nadu, Nitish...