-Down to Earth If the government decides to feed all its hungry people, India's tag of a net exporting country will be easliy lost India is riding high on the agricultural success story it has written over the past few years. Record-breaking food-grain production was registered in seven years in the past decade. From 217 million tonnes in 2006-07, the country’s production jumped to 275.11 million tonnes in 2016-17. Three years...

-Hindustan Times Most complaints relate to violation of norms at construction and demolition sites, dumping of garbage, open burning of waste. The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), the country’s apex pollution control body, has received more than 3,000 complaints through its social media accounts, email and mobile app, from citizens relating to violations of green norms that is adding to the deteriorating air quality of the national capital. We have received more than...

-The Hindu Environment Ministry and inland waterways body differed on need for clearances India’s longest waterway project, one terminal of which was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier this week, was made possible only after a high-power Committee of Ministers and senior officials from multiple Ministries overruled the recommendations of experts appointed by the Environment Ministry. The latter had recommended public consultations and a full-fledged environment clearance, documents made available through...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The central government scheme to reimburse employers in the private sector 50% wages of the last 14 weeks of maternity leave will be funded by a Rs 400 crore allocation and is intended to counter the perception that extended maternity leave is deterring female employment. There will be a wage ceiling of Rs 15,000 a month for eligible women. On the status of the proposal, the...

-Tribune News Service RTI reply indicates 1.5 times jump in profit of insurers in a year Hisar: Insurance companies across the country earned a whopping Rs 15,795 crore as profit in two years from the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY), according to a reply received under the Right to Information Act. While the farmers’ wait for increase in income continues, the profit of insurance firms increased by one-and-a-half times in just one...