In India, commercial banks, both public and private, are required to direct a large chunk of their net credit to designated “priority sectors” seen as having a positive impact on India’s economy, and wider society – to ensure funds flow into areas the government deems important, but might otherwise be neglected. These sectors – designated by the Reserve Bank of India – currently include broad areas of agriculture, small scale industries,...

Union Minister of State for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh announced in Sariska on Wednesday Rs.30 crore for shifting villages from the Sariska Tiger Reserve. On a visit to the reserve after the death of CP1, one of the five tigers released there as part of the re-introduction of tigers, Mr. Ramesh expressed his concern over the incident but gave the go-ahead to his team there for the continuation of...

The “paid news syndrome” in the media should be resisted as part of a larger struggle for democratic rights because corruption in the media directly affects the health of democracy. The struggle has to be waged in the context of media's corporatisation, monopolistic trends and structural decline. These views emerged at a day-long seminar on “Abridging Freedom and Fairness of the Media: Combating Challenges,” organised by the Rajasthan Working Journalists' Union,...

All horticultural crops will be branded under common logo Agri and horticultural planting material that have been developed by the associate institutes of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) will be branded and will come with a logo soon. If all goes as planned, all horticultural crops will be initially branded under a logo, which has been acquired by Indian Institute of Horticulture Research (IIHR), Bangalore. The Bangalore-based institute, which is...

The poster boy of microfinance is now seeking some anonymity. In Andhra Pradesh, the epicentre of the worst crisis faced by microfinance in India, SKS Microfinance is playing down its identity and going into preservation mode. At its modest office in a residential colony in Warangal district, India’s largest microfinance company has taken down its board. At its head office in upmarket Begumpet in Hyderabad, it hung a cloth mesh...