-The New Indian Express HYDERABAD: The Telangana Government is contemplating a hike in price as well as quantity of rice given on subsidy to white ration card holders through the public distribution system. The CABinet sub-committee headed by Finance Minister Etela Rajender, which met at the Secretariat Tuesday, discussed the issue plus the mechanism to weed out bogus cards by using the data compiled during the intensive household survey. Later, briefing mediapersons, the...

-The New Indian Express   HYDERABAD: In a much-awaited relief to the cash-starved Andhra Pradesh government, the State Level Bankers' Committee (SLBC) on Tuesday reportedly agreed to accept its offer of upfront payment of 20 per cent outstanding crop loans of eligible farmers. The SLBC has constituted a sub-committee to look into proposals made by the Andhra Pradesh government on the modalities of crop loan waiver scheme and after a thorough discussion, finally...

-The Indian Express Prime Minister Narendra Modi has directed the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) to ensure "universal coverage" under Aadhaar by June 2015. According to government officials, the PM set the deadline at a high-level meeting chaired by him in the first week of September. The target was reiterated in the minutes of the meeting circulated to all the concerned departments. Directions have also been issued to the Registrar General...

-The Hindustan Times Kapurthala (Punjab): Direct seeding of rice (DSR) and paddy straw management were the major issues at the Kisan Mela held in the city on Thursday. The mela, organised by the agriculture department in association with the Agriculture Technology Management Agency (ATMA), began with a message of 'save environment, say no to burn paddy straw'. Four farmers, including a woman, were honoured for using DSR technology in paddy farming. The technology...

-Live Mint State-run companies laying CABle at speed of 500km a month, much slower than 30,000km per month rate needed New Delhi: The Rs.20,000 crore National Optical Fibre Network plan that aims to connect 250,000 gram panchayats (village councils) across the country with high-speed Internet access is likely to miss its first target of linking 100,000 gram panchayats by March. The three state-run companies tasked with the job of laying optical fibre...