-PTI Amid differences among allies, the government on Thursday deferred a decision on the changes in the crucial Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority Bill, 2011. "It (the PFRDA Bill) was taken up and deferred", said a minister after the Cabinet meeting here. Among the UPA allies, Trinamool Congress has been quite vociferous in opposing the pension and insurance reforms. Railway minister Mukul Roy, who represents TMC in the UPA government, did not speak...

-The Business Standard   The FAO Food Price Index fell by 4% in May Global food prices have dropped sharply in May due to generally favourable supplies, growing global economic uncertainties and a strengthening of the US dollar, a report by the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations said today. The FAO Food Price Index, measuring the monthly change in international prices of a basket of food commodities, fell by 4%...

-IANS The union cabinet Thursday discussed a fresh row between the home ministry and the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) and decided both will collect biometric data of 1.2 billion Indians, said sources.  The home ministry, headed by P. Chidambaram, and the UIDAI, headed by Nandan Nilekani, have been battling over the issue of collection of biometric data which entails the right to scan people's eyes and fingerprints.  In January, a cabinet...

-PTI Rising populations are driving the Earth towards a catastrophic breakdown where species we depend on would die out, an international team of scientists has claimed, blaming the crisis on over use of water, forests and land for agriculutre.  Writing in the journal Nature, the team warned that the world is headed toward a tipping point marked by extinctions and unpredictable changes on a scale not seen since the glaciers retreated 12,000...

Chandil, Jharkhand: Outrage has given way to expectancy in West Singhbhum, Jharkhand, where people are now waiting for the benefits that will come to them from a multipurpose project on the Subarnarekha, a venture that is finally set to take off after 40 years of holdups and protests.   On June 15, a team of engineers will test the dam’s vital functions and, if all goes well, the inauguration is expected in...