-Hindustan Times Drunken driving will invite a fine of Rs.10,000, talking on phones while driving will result in a fine of Rs.5,000, and for jumping red light, driving without seat belt and helmet, the proposed fine is Rs.1,000. A parliamentary panel has agreed to a 10% annual increase in the fines for various traffic violations including drunken driving, talking on mobile, rash and negligent driving. The panel was studying the Motor Vehicles (Amendment)...

-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....

-Scroll.in At the heart of the problem is a discrepancy between two laws on rights for Adivasis to the bamboo growing on their traditional forestlands. Across the world, taxonomists have classified bamboo as a grass. But under Indian law, it was treated as a tree. This definition has long given state forest departments monopolistic control over the valuable natural resource. On November 23, the central government loosened this grip by amending the...

-The Hindu Business Line Procurement of the excess output vis-a-vis a normal year, rather than open-ended purchase, is a viable option A bountiful harvest that implies an increase in output may not always increase the nominal income of the farming sector, which is subject to the behaviour of input and more particularly output prices, which may sometimes move sharply. There can, therefore, be years in which there is a sudden and sharp...

-The Hindu If we oppose every solution to the problem of air pollution, how will we ever breathe clean air, asks the environmentalist Environmentalist Sunita Narain has been fighting for clean air for decades. The Delhi-based Centre for Science and Environment, with which she has been associated and now serves as director general, led the shift to compressed natural gas in Delhi, to reduce air pollution. Ms. Narain is on the statutory...