-The Telegraph Demand for sustainable or organic cotton on the rise, providing an opportunity for the country to excel A few years ago, images of the drying up of the eastern bed of the Aral Sea had shocked millions. It was linked to the widespread growing of unsustainable cotton, backed by the Uzbekistan government, to pocket greater forex earnings and satiate the demands of the global fashion industry. The demand for sustainable...

-Business Standard Dept in advanced inter-ministerial talks; schemes for bicycles, footwear to follow The industry department is in the advanced stage of inter-ministerial consultation for launching a production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme for both traditional and mechanical toys worth Rs 3,500 crore, which will be followed by PLI schemes for bicycles and footwear. “Discussions for PLI for toys are at an advanced stage. PLIs for bicycles and footwear are also under formulation,” a government...

-Hindustan Times PM Modi had expressed concerns that the utilisation of the funds earmarked for the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) was skewed in favour of more affluent states instead of poorer states getting more money, two senior officials said, asking not to be named. After Prime Minister Narendra Modi flagged key discrepancies in the jobs guarantee scheme at a recent review meeting on the rural sector, the central...

-Hindustan Times Farm policymaking slowed down after the repeal of three laws in 2021. But the climate crisis, geopolitical instability and inflation have exacerbated the urgency for reforms In November 2021, Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi repealed three contentious farm laws in a dramatic turnaround. The entire episode — from the passage of the laws, the protests that followed and the turnaround — had stalled national agriculture policymaking. Yet, as this column...

-Hindustan Times Union minister of state for health, Bharati Pravin Pawar, while presenting India’s national statement on combating AMR at the Third Global High-Level Ministerial Conference on Antimicrobial Resistance recently said that India was prioritising development and implementation of state action plans for containment of AMR across sectors India plans to strengthen its network of antimicrobial resistance surveillance labs that it set up to monitor the antimicrobial resistance (AMR) situation in the...