-The Hindu NABARD to manage Rs. 77,000-cr. corpus for scheme. India’s apex rural-development bank will manage a Rs. 77,000-crore corpus as part of a Central government push to complete 99 unfinished irrigation projects across the country by 2019, and bring water to 76.03 lakh hectares. The contours of the scheme were first made public by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in his Budget speech this February and involve finishing 149 projects overdue since...

-PTI WASHINGTON: The Indian administrative service, which is hamstrung by political interference and outdated personnel procedures, need urgent reform or risk institutional decline, according to a top US-based thinktank. "Unfortunately, the IAS is hamstrung by political interference, outdated personnel procedures, and a mixed record on policy implementation, and it is in need of urgent reform," the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace said in its report on 'The Indian Administration Service Meets Big...

-The Hindu Cap on hearings crucial to reduce pendency: Study The average hearing time for listed cases on a particular day in an Indian high court could be as little as two minutes, according to an analysis of cases pending in 21 high courts. The findings come from the “State of The Indian Judiciary” report released on Wednesday by the Bangalore-based research organisation DAKSH. Their “Rule of Law Project” aims to move the...

Rising prices of dal: How to deal with it? The 68th session of the United Nations General Assembly declared 2016 as the International Year of Pulses. In India, however, ordinary citizens are under enormous duress due to the skyrocketing prices of dal/ lentils since the last one year. The website of Price Monitoring Cell of the Department of Consumer Affairs shows that dal prices varied across places. For example, the...

-The Indian Express New FDI policy in food products is unlikely to be a game-changer by itself. Government must clear up the policy environment. n a rather bold move on June 20, the Modi government opened several key sectors such as defence, pharmaceuticals, civil aviation and food products to 100 per cent foreign direct investment (FDI). The objective behind this FDI policy is to attract higher investments, better technologies in manufacturing, commerce,...