Two central ministries have locked horns over the country’s youngest students, the tug-of-war for the tiny tots unfolding after a plan to bring pre-school education under the Right to Education Act. While the human resource development ministry wants to include pre-primary education under the act, which provides for free and compulsory education to children between six and 14, the women and child development department says education and childcare shouldn’t be segregated...

-PTI Economies of Indian states can grow 1.08% faster with every 10% increase in Internet and broadband connections, says a study released today by Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER). Consequently, for every 10% increase in Internet and broadband penetration, India could potentially add $17 billion to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the report said. "Our first major finding is the existence of a positive and significant coefficient on Internet....

ICAR, agricultural universities and state agriculture departments issue advisories, alerts Agriculture departments in northern Indian states have been put on high alert following the appearance of yellow rust disease in wheat crops in parts of Ropar district in Punjab and Una district in Himachal Pradesh. Yellow rust is a fungal disease which manifests as powdery yellow stripes on leaves. These stripes hinder photosynthesis, make the grains shrivel and stunt growth of the...

The Union government has cleared an external loan to finance part of the programme launched by the Ministry of Rural Development in left wing extremism-affected villages. The clearance is for a loan of $500 million from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to speed up construction of rural roads. Union Minister of Rural Development Jairam Ramesh has, in a letter, urged Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee to issue directions for negotiating and early signing...

The central government claims that allowing foreign direct investment into India’s retail sector will benefit small farmers, expand employment and lower food inflation. What has been the experience in India with organised retail so far and what has been the global experience with FDI? Sukhpal Singh (sukhpal@iegindia.org) is currently at the Institute of Economic Growth, Delhi. After being under relentless attack for a week, the United Progressiv Alliance government was forced to...