Barely 50 km from the capital of India's most populous state, in Daulatpur village in Barabanki district, a mini agriculture revolution is taking place. What 41-year-old Ram Saran Verma began in 1996 on a 6-acre plot of land in a remote rural pocket has now grown into an 85-acre empire that feeds hundreds of workers, besides providing indirect employment to many more. "The urge to do something beyond the routine...

The jinxed women’s reservation bill received a boost today with a parliamentary panel advocating immediate passage in its present form. The panel rejected any dilution of the proposed 33 per cent quota for women with party-based reservation or double-member constituencies. The bill on women’s reservation in the Lok Sabha and state Assemblies should be passed “and put in action without further delay”, the standing committee on personnel, public grievances, law and...

The Rajya Sabha on Wednesday approved the Competition (Amendment) Bill 2009 which was passed by the Lok Sabha. The Bill repeals and replaces the Competition (Amendment) Ordinance, 2009. The Bill provides for transfer of anti-competition cases pending before the Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Commission (MRTPC) to an appellate tribunal. With this, the commission would cease to exist, two years ahead of its scheduled closure. Tabling the Bill, Minister of State for...

A minister will now be able to take his or her friend, companion or relative on flights free of cost. A bill introduced today in the Lok Sabha seeks to extend this facility of free air travel, earlier restricted to family members, to companions or relatives of ministers. The Salaries and Allowances of Ministers (Amendment) Bill, introduced by home minister P. Chidambaram, allows ministers to take along “any number of companions...

Unrelenting protests against price rise by a united Opposition forced the adjournment of the Lok Sabha today after MPs accusing the government of inaction disrupted scheduled discussions. MPs from all non-UPA parties, including the Left, BJP, Samajwadi Party, Janata Dal (United), Biju Janata Dal, Akali Dal and the Shiv Sena, started raising slogans against the government in the House. Opposition MPs also marched in front of Parliament House — inside the complex...