-The Hindu The unorganised manufacturing sector should be reoriented towards non-household units to provide efficiency gains. Ever since E.F. Schumacher, a British economist, published in 1973 his book Small is Beautiful, implying that small units are better in terms of performance indicators and labour absorption, several studies have endorsed the same idea and argued in favour of promoting small units. Stretching the argument a little further, it may be emphasised that small...

-PTI There is no official estimation of black money either before or after November 8 – the day government announced scrapping of old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Friday. “There is no official estimation of the amount of black money either before or after the government’s decision of November 8, 2016 declaring that bank notes of denominations of the existing series of the value...

-Down to Earth FAO estimates that the world will need to produce some 60 per cent more food, on an average, to feed a hungry world by 2050 Governments, in conjunction with the private sector, need to tap agricultural science and technology research capacities to meet the zero hunger Challenge by 2030. This requires greater public expenditure and investment in science and technology, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) says. Earlier, the...

-The Hindu On the tenth anniversary of the historic passage of the Forest Rights Act, tribal resistance to defend their rights is growing even as government after government tries to dilute its provisions On this day 10 years ago the historic Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act was passed in the Lok Sabha. Its conception and passage was the result of the decades of struggles and...

-The Hindu Public sector insurers, oil-marketing firms and others not to take a hit for cashless push The Centre has decided to bear the burden imposed on public sector firms on account of the many discounts and incentives offered to promote digital payments. The plan is to create a new expenditure head in the exchequer’s accounts that will absorb the costs of such measures. Public sector insurers, oil-marketing firms and others will thus not...