-The Hindu Business Line ‘Development not at the cost of food security’ After several farmers’ organisations, it is now the turn of agricultural scientists, representing various research institutions, to criticise the Land Acquisition Bill. On Monday, senior agricultural scientists told the joint Parliamentary panel, looking into the amendments to the 2013 legislation, that reducing cultivable land can pose a serious threat to the food security of the country. Representatives, including Vice-Chancellors of the Indian...

-The Hindu There is no organised conspiracy against NGOs. It is in the nature of power to exercise greater control, and exempt itself from accountability. The recent changes in the rules governing foreign funding of NGOs under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) have been widely discussed. The last word on it will perhaps never be written. The UPA government initiated this and we see some concrete changes now. Sifting through the...

-PTI Mumbai:  The Maharashtra Anganwadi Sevika Union has alleged that the state government has not paid salaries of its workers for the last four months. "For last four months, we have not been paid our salaries. We met Rural Development Minister Pankaja Munde and Finance Minister Mungantiwar several times. But they say the government has no money to pay our dues," Anganwadi Sevika Union general secretary Kamal Parulekar alleged. If Ms Munde can...

-PTI Chief Ministers’ sub-group of the NITI Aayog agrees to reduce number of centrally-sponsored schemes from 72 to 30. The number of centrally-sponsored schemes (CSS) is likely to be reduced to 30 from 72 with a Chief Ministers’ sub-group of the NITI Aayog reaching a broad consensus on the issue. The panel has also recommended increasing the share of flexi funds to 25 per cent from the current 10 per cent. “There is a...

-Business Standard Nations below a level of per-capita GDP representing a peaking point could be allowed to expand total emissions The world's climate change negotiators will meet again in December in Paris. The good news is that all countries, including developing countries, have agreed to announce their "intended nationally determined contributions" (INDCs). The bad news is that they are nowhere near an agreement on action by individual countries that could limit global...