-The Times of India Union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee on Wednesday said he would explore the possibility of setting up a committee of CMs of the eastern states for a second green revolution in the region and praised Assam, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal for substantial increase in rice production during the current fiscal. Replying to the debate on 2012-13 Union Budget in Rajya Sabha, Mukherjee said due to substantial increase in...

-IANS The World Bank has approved a $109 million funding for the Rajasthan Agricultural Competitiveness Project in India to enhance Agricultural productivity through sustainable and efficient use of water resources. The project is expected to increase Agricultural productivity and farmer incomes through efficient water management, crop management, improved Agricultural technology, farmer organizations and market innovations in some 20 selected areas in Rajasthan. The initiative will benefit some 155,000 smallholder farmers, the Washington-based World...

Source: PTI/IANS The World Bank has announced $4.3 billion in financial aid to India through a new innovative and flexible financing arrangement to help the country fight poverty. The arrangement, while facilitating a $4.3 billion increase in support to India, is designed to maintain International Bank for Reconstruction and Development's -- which is its lending arm -- net exposure within the limit of $17.5 billion established by it. In a statement, the World...

Consumption-based measures don’t accurately estimate poverty Since the publication of poverty estimates purportedly based on the Tendulkar methodology and the 2009-10 consumption survey of the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO), many in Parliament and outside, from different political parties, have questioned its conclusions. Concomitantly, media reactions have speculated on poverty’s relationship with fertility, growth, specific schemes, et al. But, India’s poverty, like itself, refuses to classify itself in simple boxes. Beyond the...

-The Hindu Business Line MNREGA Act may be amended to end present disparity From April 1, wage rates under the UPA's flagship MGNREGA will be revised upwards across the country. The wages are now linked to the Consumer Price Index for Agricultural Labour (CPI-AL). A notification to this effect is being issued for the period April 1 to March 31, 2013, the Rural Development Minister, Mr Jairam Ramesh, informed the Lok Sabha on...