It used to be a dry and arid land legume grown by poor farmers in Rajasthan, Haryana , Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh. Till a few years back, it sold for as low as Rs 1,000 a quintal. Eaten either at home by farmers (some may remember it as guar ki phalli) or sold off for export to be used as a binding and thickening agent in edible products like ice creams,...

-IANS Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Friday approved setting up a monitoring system to fast track implementation of major projects with outlay of over Rs.1,000 crore, a day after the official data showed contraction in manufacturing activities. "In order to address the issue of major investment projects being delayed for a variety of reasons, the Prime Minister has approved setting up of an Investment Tracking System to ensure speedy implementation of such projects,"...

Farmers, whose land was acquired at a meagre Rs. 4 per square yard in South West Delhi way back in 1955 in the name of undertaking planned development, have now seized upon the opportunity raised by the report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India — on the loss caused to the exchequer by leasing away of some of this very land by Indira Gandhi International Airport concessionaire Delhi...

-Reuters SUPALI: Two years ago, Vilas Yelmar took out a 200,000 rupee ($3,610) bank loan to develop a small grape orchard in a dusty hamlet southeast of Mumbai. The bank has repeatedly asked for the loan to be repaid, but Yelmar, whose annual income has risen to 2 million rupees, has spent the money on a new sport utility vehicle and a lavish family wedding. He is one of an increasing number...

-The Business Standard Planning for deficient monsoon must begin Now that the India Meteorological Department (IMD) has endorsed the fears expressed earlier by foreign weather bureaux about the emergence of the monsoon-unfriendly El Nino in the second half of the season, the government should begin preparing right away for mitigating its adverse impacts on agriculture, water reservoirs and other areas. El Nino, an anomalous rise in sea surface temperature off the...