For the Government of India the first phase of the national solar mission has been a grand success. It not only managed to attract industry to invest in the generation of an energy considered costly, but also dramatically drove down the cost of producing this energy. In its celebration, little did the government realise that a major conglomerate had subverted rules to acquire a stake in the solar mission much...

The National Bank for Agriculture & Rural Development, or Nabard, has started lending directly to infrastructure projects out of its own resources for the first time in 30 years, in an attempt to diversify its activities and make itself relevant at a time when the dynamics of the rural market are changing.  Essentially a refinance bank till recently, Nabard has created a Rs 1,000-crore special window for lending to build core...

West Bengal Governor MK Naryanan has refuted Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's claim that no farmers have committed suicides. He said the matter needs to be addressed urgently. "There is no denying the fact that farmers have committed suicide and that they are in debt. We need to do something about it," Narayanan said.   He was outspoken on the issue of crib deaths too, calling them a matter of great concern. "Baby deaths...

-The Telegraph   Prakash Karat today said the spate of farmer suicides was the fallout of the “collapse’’ of the Mamata Banerjee government’s crop-procurement system and that it was “unfortunate’’ that cultivators were “suffering” within eight months of Trinamul coming to power. “The central committee expressed serious concern at the growing number of farmer suicides in Bengal. There are reports that 24 farmers have taken their lives. This reflects not only on the...

-The Hindu   While Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her government sought to downplay the fact that farmers were being forced to commit suicide in the State because of penurious conditions, Leader of the Opposition Surya Kanta Mishra said here on Monday that the Chief Minister keeps maintaining that nothing is wrong whenever anything construed as a criticism of her government is brought to her notice. Not in concurrence with claims that farmers...