-PTI Amid housing shortage of up to 25 million units in the country, Urban Development Secretary Sudhir Krishna on Friday said there are 11 million homes that are vacant as per the latest census figure and out of that 10 per cent lies in the national capital region. Addressing a real estate conference organised by the RICS, a global body to set standards for realty sector, Mr. Krishna said the Centre is...

-The Hindu     Paddy cultivation is no longer lucrative in Kanyakumari district Kanyakumari: The fertile rice bowl of erstwhile Travancore, now part of Tamil Nadu's Kanyakumari district, is gripped by a serious economic and ecological crisis. The emerald green paddy fields, banana and coconut groves in the backdrop of the Western Ghats, and irrigated by hundreds of water bodies may soon fade into a neglected prized painting, if urgent measures are not taken, warn...

-The Hindu Kerala: Getting a crop loan from a bank and after repaying the entire amount getting back the land or house papers submitted as collateral security for availing the loan are not easy tasks. "Farmers know well how hard it is to get a bank loan today. In several cases they are often in the dark about their eligibility for applying or interest calculated on their loan amount disbursed. "As an answer...

-The Hindu Computers are dumped in a corner, with no repairs or instructors: principal Hyderabad: Thousands of students in government-managed schools in the city continue to be deprived of computer education. The reason: computers remain mere show pieces at these institutions for want of minor repairs and lack of instructors. All this when many private schools, including unrecognised ones, are alluring students by offering free computer studies, a fact that officials themselves admit. The...

-The Hindu Chennai: The launch of bio-metric scanner to obtain fingerprint impressions of people involved in land transactions and installation of cameras in sub-registrar offices has already speeded up the registration process. Officials of the Registration Department expect the initiatives to usher in transparency and eliminate fake land deals. The new initiatives were launched last November across the State as part of steps to boost e-governance. Unlike earlier when people had to...