-Hindustan Times The Centre on Wednesday hiked the minimum support price for pulses by up to Rs 275 a quintal for the year and also approved an increase of Rs 50 in MSP for paddy. The MSP for paddy will now be Rs 1,410 per quintal. Hikes in MSP are known to help farmers, which in turn can incentivise them and boost their overall agricultural output. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA)...

-Hindustan Times The Union cabinet on Wednesday approved “Housing for All”, the NDA government’s flagship programme of building two crore houses by 2022. The scheme is piloted by the housing and urban poverty alleviation ministry. Aiming to promote affordable housing, the cabinet approved a substantial increase in interest subsidy on housing loans — from 4% to 6.50% — for those from the economically weaker sections (EWS) and low-income groups (LIG). This would...

-Hindustan Times In signs of rising disparity in wealth distribution, only 928 households own a fifth of India's private wealth, according to a report by the Boston consulting group. The percentage of private financial wealth those 928 households own is 20%, the BCG report titled 'Global Wealth 2015: Winning the Growth Game' said. The number of such ultra high net worth households stood at 284 in 2013, and is projected to account for...

-Hindustan Times Rohtak: The meteorological (Met) department's prediction of below-average rainfall this year between June and September has raised the concern among paddy growers in the state, who are already reeling under crop losses due to the unseasonal rainfall, which has damaged the rabi crops. The prediction of poor rainfall will not only affect the farmers, but also rice production in the state, as according to the figures given by the state...

-Hindustan Times Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav’s decision to use his photograph in newspaper advertisements is tantamount to “an open contempt” of the Supreme Court’s ban on using pictures of CMs in government publicity, legal experts say. Yadav’s photograph appeared recently in full-page newspaper advertisements highlighting an agreement to construct an international cricket stadium in Lucknow. A Uttar Pradesh government ad with Akhilesh Yadav that appeared in a newspaper on Friday. On May...