Volume of silk production may be on the decline in traditional silk cultivating areas in Southern Karnataka districts, thanks to rapid urbanisation and industrialisation. But Central Silk Board's efforts to popularise sericulture in northern Karnataka districts is paying off, board chairperson H. Hanumantappa has said.Speaking to presspersons after inaugurating the “Silk Mark Expo” here on Wednesday, Mr. Hanumantappa said that farmers in Belgaum, Bidar, Bijapur, Bagalkot, Gulbarga, Gadag and Haveri...

The case of Pushp Steel and Mines reverberated in Chhattisgarh assembly, as the congress party attacked Chief Minister Raman Singh, asking him to divulge the name of the owner of the dubious firm that had been granted coveted mining rights in the state in violation of rules. The congress alleged the firm is covertly owned by a senior BJP leader. The persistent uproar finally led the speaker to adjourn the...

No proposal to revise Minimum Support Price Despite demands from Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh, there is no proposal with the Centre to revise the Minimum Support Price (MSP) or announce any bonus for wheat, paddy and sugarcane crops. However, it is working towards a system of ensuring remunerative prices under which farmers do not require any concessions in future, according to Union Food and Agriculture Minister Sharad...

Media-corporate links are structural. But journalists, certainly entrenched ones, can choose whether they wish to be stenographers or not. It was gratifying to have the head of India's most reputed business house confirm the existence of crony capitalism in the country. True, others have believed this for 20 years but it carries more weight when Ratan Tata says so. As he put it in a television interview with admirable candour: “Yes,...

In the largest act of philanthropy by an Indian, Wipro chairman Azim Premji will give about Rs 8,846 crore ($2 billion) to improve school education in India. Other donations to charitable institutions by any person or corporation in India pale in comparison to this massive endowment. It effectively silences critics who say Indian billionaires are measly donors compared to foreign counterparts, and that they focus on big-name western universities rather...