-The Telegraph Nagpur: The Maharashtra government has given a slew of private companies permission to conduct field trials of genetically modified crops at state agriculture universities' farms, rejecting its dissenting agriculture minister's suggestion for a public debate first. Before this, no Indian state had allowed field trials of GM crops since October last year, when a Supreme Court-appointed expert panel recommended a 10-year moratorium on such trials - though the court has...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Seeking to send a positive signal to industries, the new environment and forest minister M Veerappa Moily on Tuesday said no files will be kept pending in his ministry and the "image" of the green regulator would never be compromised in the process of project clearance. Immediately after taking additional charge of the environment and forest ministry, the Union petroleum and natural gas minister Moily said,...

-The Hindu Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala): The government is considering a proposal to exempt stamp duty on agricultural loans issued by commercial banks. Finance Minister K.M. Mani told a meeting of the State Level Bankers Committee (SLBC) here on Monday that a decision on the issue would be taken soon after assessing the financial implications. Pointing to the substantial share of commercial banks in primary sector credit, the last meeting of the SLBC had...

-The Business Standard Does the Indian government's loud voice in international negotiations lead to results? At the recent Word Trade Organisation (WTO) meet in Bali, the Indian government went, with all guns blazing, to defend the rights of the country's farmers and to secure food security for millions of poor people. It opposed the Agreement on Agriculture, which limits government food procurement to 10 per cent of the value of total...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Delhi's private schools geared up to challenge the new guidelines for nursery admissions, with nearly every association holding meetings on Thursday in which they decided to first write to Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung asking for changes and, if need be, take the issue to court. Under the new norms, all discretionary powers, including a 20% management quota, have been taken away from schools, who now have...