-Hindustan Times New Delhi: At least Rs 3,900 crore was laundered through shell companies between November-December after the ban on high-value banknotes, investigations by a central agency have found. The probe by the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) has also identified at least 54 people who helped 559 beneficiaries with laundering the illicit cash, sources said. The government recalled 500 and 1000-rupee notes on November 8 in a move it said was aimed...

-The Indian Express In Budget 2017-18, a sum of Rs 7,377 crore has been allocated to the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana, a 42 per cent jump over the revised estimates for FY17. India is home to 17.5 per cent of the world’s population, but has only 4 per cent of the fresh water resources. Agriculture consumes some 78 per cent of the fresh water supply. With increasing urbanisation and industrialisation, India...

-The Hindu Growing disenchantment with the existing model of globalisation is also a historic opportunity to frame new rules granting equal opportunities to all in the global marketplace The visit of Roberto Azevêdo, Director General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to India, from February 8, comes at a juncture when the framework of global trade rules is undergoing a shake-up. The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) — which had almost become the standard...

-India Water Portal Tamil Nadu continues to witness cycles of flood and drought annually. Mismanagement of traditional water management systems is one of the main reasons. That Tamil Nadu qualifies to be dubbed as a land of climate paradoxes is beyond debate. The massive flood of 2015 was quickly followed by a punishing drought in 2016. Though the state benefited marginally from the south-west monsoon, as is usually the case, the biggest...

-The Indian Express CBSE’s decision to make Class X board exam compulsory upturns a modest reform of school education Once upon a time, when India was a colony, the matriculation exam marked the end of “high” school education. It served as the gateway for higher education at a college. The Latin root of the verb ‘to matriculate’ means getting enlisted in a college. Not everybody could aspire for higher education, but even...