-PTI NEW DELHI: With rise in personal disposable income post 7th Pay Commission, the income tax exemption limit needs to be raised by Rs 50,000 to Rs 3 lakh, a SBI report said on Monday. The move will benefit around 75 lakh people, it said. The SBI's Ecowrap report further said that if the exemption limit of interest payments under housing loan is increased to Rs 2.5 lakhs for existing home loan...

-The Indian Express The crisis in the crop’s prices in two of the four years of the Modi government illustrate that farmers no longer matter to it. Farmers are habitually great raconteurs. My grandfather would often narrate an episode, when he encountered a farmer sitting by a heap of potatoes in the middle of the night. On investigating what compelled the farmer to guard potatoes when there were no buyers, he was...

-The Times of India DAVOS: India was ranked 62nd among 74 emerging economies on World Economic Forum's Inclusive Development Index, a report released on Monday said. Although India was ranked lower than Brazil, Russia, China and even Pakistan, it was among the 10 emerging economies with 'advancing' trend. "The 2018 index measures progress of 103 economies on three individual pillars-growth & development, inclusion & inter-generational equity and sustainability. Of the three pillars,...

-The Hindu Business Line Lingering distress in the sector may force the govt to think innovatively New Delhi: Agriculture sector, which suffered badly despite higher production in the last two years, may be a key focus area for the NDA government, when it presents its last full-fledged Union Budget before the 2019 general elections. Attending a function recently in the Capital, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley unequivocally said that that the farm sector...

-Livemint.com The committee’s suggestions on major reforms include an overhaul of the Union agriculture ministry New Delhi: In a detailed action plan for doubling farmers’ incomes, a top government panel has proposed major reforms to the existing administrative structure. This includes an overhaul of the Union agriculture ministry, setting up a three-tier planning and review mechanism through district, state and national level committees and an annual ease of doing agribusiness survey. The committee on...