-The Hindu Business Line And worse still, to favour urea producers over decontrolled fertiliser units in gas allocation, exacerbating the nutrient imbalance The manner in which gas is allocated within the fertiliser sector smacks of arbitrariness. The Centre gives a uniform subsidy to all manufacturers, including those of decontrolled complex fertilisers, under the Nutrient Based Scheme (NBS) . Why, then, does it use a different yardstick for allocation of gas to manufacturers of...

-The Hindu Business Line Indian corporates are just settling in to the regime of mandatory spends on CSR activities. The Centre has so far been lenient and has allowed them to spend less than the required amount as long as they disclose the reason. Many companies, which have fallen short, have listed a variety of reasons for this short-fall. This varies from the need for more time to identifying the right CSR...

-Hindustan Times Commerce minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said that the WTO will have to give a permanent solution to India’s food security issue. HT explains. * What has WTO got to do with food security? The World Trade Organisation was established in 1995 to facilitate trade among members, who now number at 161. The WTO facilitates trade through rounds of negotiations — there have been nine rounds till now, the latest being the...

-Hindustan Times New Delhi: Eight-year-old Pihu Tiwari runs a marathon every morning with nearly 12 kilos loaded on her back. At least that’s what her walk from the school gate to her second-floor classroom feels like. She doesn’t just get tired but often pants her way up the staircase. “She is thin and weighs 29kg. And every day, she has to carry a bag to school which is almost half her weight. My...

-The Indian Express There are certain issues, however, which need be addressed, to make sure that the information commission becomes fully autonomous and thus becomes a constitutional body. Celebrations for 10 years of democratic transparency, in the form of the Right to Information Act, are going on. What we have achieved as yet and what is still someway to go needs to be found out. The many scams, which have successfully helped...