With regional disparities, the target of four per cent agricultural growth remains elusive The importance of agriculture in the Indian economy becomes quite clear just before the monsoons. Though other sectors contribute a greater share to the national income, more than three quarters of India’s rural population is still dependent on agriculture as the primary driver of income. India has come a long way from an era of vulnerability to food shortages...

The government is planning to tighten the rules for issuing and renewing driving licences to make the process “fudge proof” after a study showed drivers’ fault accounted for most road accidents in the country. A committee of state transport commissioners and officials from the National Informatics Centre recently came up with suggestions on possible amendments to the rules. The panel, headed by Andhra Pradesh transport commissioner Hiralal Samariya, has submitted its report...

Court settles the class issue, but the real challenges of RTE have to be met The debate over the Right to Education is beginning to display characteristic symptoms of Indian debates. Elites are inventing specious arguments to condone the economic apartheid in the current system. But India’s self-appointed anti-elites are often even more elitist. They are more fixated on taking down elites a peg or two rather than intelligently fixing real...

SURAT: The country's biggest man-made fibre industry in the city, which contributes to about 40 per cent of the nation's man-made fabric demand, is facing an acute shortage of workers. A huge chunk of skilled workers from states like Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Orissa and Andhra Pradesh employed in the weaving and processing sectors have shifted to their hometowns in the last five years due to National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA)...

-The Economic Times Rains in the last few days across the country excluding the southern peninsula have affected the standing wheat crop. Harvesting has already been delayed by a fortnight in Punjab, the wheat bowl of the country. State governments are advising farmers not to bring the moisture-laden wheat to market yards for sale.  "At isolated places, there are instances of water-logging. It will not impact production with harvesting at its peak...