-Business Standard Govt should revamp agricultural marketing to increase farmers' earnings and amend land-leasing laws Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has met farm sector representatives for pre-Budget consultations at a time Indian agriculture is passing through a bad patch - especially because of two years of consecutive drought. Predictably, therefore, most participants pitched for more credit on soft terms, higher minimum support prices (MSP) for crops and the expansion of irrigation facilities to...

-Hindustan Times New Delhi: The Supreme Court said on Tuesday a ban on the sale and registration of diesel vehicles with engine capacities of 2,000 cc and above in the national capital region will continue as it heard a plea by automobile manufacturers seeking a modification of its order. Senior advocates Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Kapil Sibal and Gopal Subramaniam were representing Mahindra and Mahindra, Mercedes and Toyota seeking modification of its December...

-The Hindu Anand Vihar in east Delhi reported the most pollution All six north Indian cities for which data was available had worse air quality than Beijing in 2015, The Hindu’s analysis of official data shows. However the south’s comparatively better air quality levels hide some lethal truths. Launched in April 2015, India’s National Air Quality Index portal produces an Air Quality Index (AQI) value for around 15 cities based on the most...

-Business Standard Allocation boost likely for schemes on agriculture, irrigation, rural roads In a move to boost rural consumption and alleviate distress in the hinterland, the government is likely to give an allocation push in Budget 2016 to programmes on irrigation, rural roads, soil health cards and agriculture. According to officials, the Union Budget for 2016-17 could see a significant increase in allocation to marquee programmes like the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana,...

-The Hindu In the pipeline are visits by Mr.Modi to African countries starting with Kenya likely next month Starting with a proposed visit by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Africa in February, India plans to play a leadership role at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) negotiations to boost the trade prospects of the developing and poor nations. To forge strong alliances on the “development agenda” of the WTO’s ongoing Doha Round of...