-The Indian Express The new law allows maternity leave up to 12 weeks for women who adopt a child below the age of 3 months, and for commissioning mothers (in cases of surrogacy) The Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Bill, 2017, passed by Parliament last week, has made 26 weeks of paid maternity leave mandatory for all women employed in the organised sector. The more than doubling of the existing entitlement of 12 weeks...

-The Indian Express There are about 44,000 villages in the state and it is an uphill task for the agency to monitor the ground water table for nearly double the number of wells. Pune: THE MAHARASHTRA government has roped in about 30,000 Jal Surakshaks to monitor the groundwater situation even at micro -levels, including panchayats and blocks. The water care-takers, hired by the Ground Water Survey and Development Agency (GSDA), at...

-IANS Shimla: Himachal Pradesh, whose economy largely banks on agriculture and horticulture, aims to develop bio villages by promoting organic farming. The state is also eyeing investment in cold chains. An additional 2,000 hectares will be brought under organic farming and there are plans to develop 200 bio-villages in the next fiscal, a government spokesperson told IANS. He said farmers in the bio-villages would use only bio-fertilizers and bio-pesticides and discourage...

-The Hindu Business Line New Delhi: India has demanded that the US withdraw its plea at the World Trade Organization (WTO) seeking authorisation to impose a retaliatory fine of $450 million annually on the country as it is now fully compliant with the dispute panel’s orders on removal of restrictions on poultry imports. “In view of the fact that India has brought itself into conformity with the recommendations of the DSB (Dispute...

-PTI New Delhi: The government has made having an Aadhaar card must for poor women to avail of free cooking gas (LPG) connection under the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana. While the government in October last year had made the unique identification number mandatory for everyone to get LPG subsidies, it has now extended the same for free cooking gas connections to women of BPL households. The government had last year launched the Pradhan...