The union finance minister welcomed the gesture made by veteran BJP leader L K Advani for assuring the party’s support to the Lokpal Bill when tabled in the Parliament Union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee on Monday said India would endorse the UN convention on graft which the country signed in 2005. “India will ratify the UN convention on graft. There is a long legal procedure which is needed to be followed,” the...

According Maharashtra agriculture department estimates, soyabean is no longer the prime favourite in India's second largest producer as farmers shift to cotton. That could be a setback for India's attempts to become more self-sufficient in cooking oil, which is the second largest import item after crude oil. "Due to good price realisation for cotton this year, area conversion from soya to cotton is most likely to happen. It is too...

While global outlook for rice production is adequate as of today, complacency of policy-makers worldwide in terms of making enough investments in agriculture has led to resurfacing of old diseases in addition to new ones threatening the gains made in this field in the past, according to R S Zeigler, director general of the Manila-based International Rice Research Institute (IRRI). Addressing the annual rice research group meeting held by Directorate of...

Anna Hazare, the 72-year-old social activist and Gandhian, on Monday slammed Union Telecommunications Minister Kapil Sibal for reportedly saying that the Lokpal Bill will not eradicate corruption from India. Hazare said that if Sibal has no faith in the proposed Lokpal then he should resign from the committee that has been formed to draft a stronger anti-corruption law. "If Kapil Sibal feels that nothing will happen from Lokpal Bill, he should...

The government appointed committee to draft the Lokpal Bill has set June 30 as the deadline to complete the task, law minister M Veerappa Moily said on Sunday. Moily, who is also the covener of the committee, said the government was keen to introduce the bill in the monsoon session of Parliament. "If all cooperate, the bill will be passed in the monsoon session itself," he told reporters here. Moily said Karnataka chief...