-The Economic Times PUNE/NEW DELHI: Pulses will likely remain beyond the reach for many in 2016 as well. Even though a fresh kharif crop has started arriving in the market, whole beans of tur (pigeon pea) cost twice as much as last year because the output is expected to be smaller. Government agencies that entered the market to create a buffer stock for next year are finding it tough to buy tur because...

-The Economic Times NEW DELHI: NITI Aayog, established as the government's think tank, could soon become planning body for the Centre and states, similar to its predecessor — the erstwhile Planning Commission. However, the institution would adopt a bottom to top approach as it moves on from five year plans to longterm perspective planning. This would keep it in sync with the government's focus on cooperative federalism. A senior government official told ET that...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has asked Reliance Communications to stop the Free Basics service of Facebook, at least for some time. "We have asked them (Reliance Communications) to stop it and they have given us a compliance report that it has been stopped," a senior government official told TOI. Reliance Communications is Facebook's sole telecom partner in India to offer a set of basic...

-PTI NEW DELHI: There is an "institutionalised exaggeration" of figures about children benefiting from Mid Day Meal (MDM) scheme and irregularities like inflated costs and fudging of data prevail, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has found. The enrolment of children in schools providing mid-day meals is showing a "consistent" decline indicating that more and more people are seeking better education and not just food, the auditor said in a report that...

-The Times of India CHANDIGARH: After fixing minimum educational qualification of Class X for candidates contesting panchayat polls, Haryana will now make class XII mandatory for aspirants to urban local body elections. The Supreme Court on December 10 had upheld Haryana government's earlier decision to mandate class X for panchayat polls, saying illiterates can be barred from contesting. The Haryana advocate general's office has suggested that qualification for people contesting various municipal...