-Hindustan Times Afghanistan has been driving the dry fruit business in Khari Baoli, which is India’s biggest dry fruit market and home to some of the oldest dry fruit importers in the country. Surjeet Singh, a wholesale dry fruits trader, is watching the ongoing crisis in Afghanistan with great concern. “My business is completely dependent on Afghanistan; almost everything here is imported from there, ” says Singh, pointing to a range of dry...

-The Hindu Environmental experts and politicians raise concern over Centre’s proposal. Given the widespread destruction of rainforests and native biodiversity caused by oil palm plantations in Southeast Asia, environmental experts and politicians are warning that the Centre’s move to promote their cultivation in India’s northeastern States and in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands could be disastrous. Other concerns include the impact on community ownership of tribal lands, as well as the fact that...

-The Hindu Heads of industry do not share the optimism of the government and RBI, shows CII poll of CEOs. Indian industry does not seem to share the government and the Reserve Bank of India’s optimism about this year’s growth prospects, according to a poll of CEOs conducted by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). Nearly two-thirds of CEOs of large corporates polled by CII at its national council meeting earlier this month...

-The Hindu Poshan Swaraj Abhiyan initiative covers 750 tribal-dominated Rajasthan villages. Jaipur: Children and adolescents in 750 villages of the tribal-dominated Banswara district in Rajasthan have started receiving nutritious food as part of the Poshan Swaraj Abhiyan to strengthen their health status ahead of an impending third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. The campaign seeks to protect the most vulnerable among undernourished children. Banswara-based Vaagdhara, which works on tribal livelihood issues, has taken...

-The Hindu Business Line Rainfall deficit in North Gujarat, Kutch at 68% Uncertainty looms over kharif crops prospects in Gujarat, where erratic monsoon has left the State with 58 per cent deficient rainfall as on August 25. Please click here to read more.  ...