-The Hindustan Times New Delhi: In the run-up to the 2014 general elections, it's party time in India. No fewer than 142 political parties have been registered with the Election Commission in the past two months. From 1,392 parties in August-September, the number swelled to 1,534 by mid-November. Godmen, builders, property dealers and retired bureaucrats are among those who have floated the parties, ostensibly to have a say in the world's largest democracy. Election...

-PTI Soaring inflation, high fuel cost, rising cost of education and health insurance premiums have eroded the real incomes of middle-class Indian families, with household savings rates dropping by a staggering 40 per cent in the last three years, says an Assocham survey. "Poor households are unable to maintain the consumption levels at current prices while middle income families find their purchasing power erode fast, thus having far less surplus money," Assocham...

-PTI NEEMRANA (RAJASTHAN): Indian biotechnology sector is looking to be a $100 billion sector by 2025, Biocon chief Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw said here on Saturday. "We want to make Indian biotechnology a $100 billion sector by 2025. I really believe this can be done if we have right policies in place, right resources and right Investments," Biocon chairman and managing director Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw told PTI. She was speaking on the sidelines of the third...

-The Hindu In an internal briefing paper, accessed by "The Hindu", U.S. tells negotiators to delay emission cut commitments and not to agree on any time line for funds Warsaw: In an internal briefing paper prepared for its diplomats across the world ahead of the Warsaw climate negotiations, which The Hindu has accessed, the U.S. has opposed the setting up of a separate process on ‘loss and damage', pushed primarily for the...

-Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy Blog For those who see agroecological approaches as necessary for achieving the food, health, and environmental targets of post 2015 agenda, agroecology is not only central to maintaining ecosystem integrity, but also to realizing food sovereignty of those involved in food production and consumption. IATP's new report, Scaling up Agroecology: Toward the Realization of the Right to Food, begins from five principles of agroecology, presents examples...