Farmers unable to bear the costs of agricultural inputs: Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee Charging the Trinamool Congress-led government with failing to admit the prevalence of farmers' suicides in the State, Prakash Karat, general secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) said here on Sunday that such suicides were “not seen or heard of” when the Left Front was in power for 34 years.  “The government is not ready to accept that the farmers...

-The Times of India   The finance ministry has replaced S S Rana with Madhavan Nair as member investigation in the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) in a change that is seen to be linked to the income tax department's embarrassment over the failed "search-and-survey" operation against Gurdeep 'Ponty' Chadha, a politically-connected businessman. Apart from Rana, who was instrumental in the raids against Chadha a day before the Uttar Pradesh polls got...

-The Indian Express   The Unique Identification Authority (UIDAI) has begun two-PILot projects that would allow public sector oil marketers to make LPG transfers as well as getting mobile connectivity easier and transparent for consumers, UIDAI chairman Nandan Nilekani said.   "We are running a PILot programme in Mysore using the Aadhar platform for giving LPG connections. One could get an LPG connection through the use of an Aadhar number. Similarly, in Hyderabad, this...

The data show that rural families simply cannot subsist on farm incomes alone There must be a bit of Gandhi in all of us because often our idea of India ultimately boils down to the kisan as the standard bearer of the lakhs of villages that comprise India. Perhaps that is why I tend to look for the signs of transformation in the lives of Indian farmers. The changes in...

-The Business Standard   Having enrolled 200 million Indian citizens for Aadhaar, the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) is now taking the initial steps to the services route. UIDAI chairperson Nandan Nilekani said that they have started two PILots that will allow the oil industry to bring in transparency in LPG transfer and the use of Aadhaar for getting mobile connectivity. UIDAI is running a PILot in Mysore using the Aadhaar platform for...