-The Economic Times NEW DELHI: Government agencies and departments, regarded as bywords for inefficiency and red tape, have recorded over a billion e-governance transactions so far this year, watershed for the world's largest democracy that is betting on technology to cure its ills. "It is an important milestone for India's e-governance initiative," said J Satyanarayana, secretary in the department of electronics and information technology. "With better accessibility and more projects getting completed,...

-Review of Agrarian Studies This paper ar­gues that mech­a­ni­sa­tion of In­dian agri­cul­ture, as mea­sured by growth in the pro­duc­tion and sale of trac­tors, has con­tin­ued, al­though not uni­formly, over the last two decades. While the last two decades were a pe­riod of slow­down in agri­cul­tural pro­duc­tion, the data do not sup­port a view of un­dif­fer­en­ti­ated eco­nomic de­cline in rural areas. Our focus on trac­tors is jus­ti­fied as the In­dian agri­cul­tural sec­tor...

-PTI Mining output fell 3.4% in April-August compared to a dip of 1.8% a year ago, due to SC ban on mining in Karnataka and Goa The Planning Commission has convened a meeting of ministries concerned next month to discuss the issues related to mining, including the ban on such activities in some states. "We have called a high-level meeting of the ministries concerned next month to discuss the issues related to mining...

India's landmark Right to Information Legislation is called the biggest single step since independence to build transparency in governance. However, its remarkable success is owed only to just 0.3 per cent of Indians who file RTI applications. It's anybody's guess as to what would be the impact if even one or two per cent of Indians began to ask tough questions to hold their rulers accountable. It is noteworthy that...

-PTI MUMBAI: Japanese brokerage Nomura today said with real rural wages moderating, both rural demand and inflationary pressures will moderate in the medium-term, giving the much-needed room to the Reserve Bank to lower interest rates. "Though rural wages continue to rise, the pace of growth is moderating. Growth in the average daily wage rate for agricultural labourers dipped to 13.1 per cent in August year- on-year, which is significantly slower than 18.5...