-PTI Washington: A global media watchdog has urged the Indian government to ban a group of nationalists targeting "biased" journalists online, saying the harassment of those who don't toe the line of the ruling party was reaching "alarming proportions". The watchdog, Reporters Without Borders (RSF), said that with the general election nearing, journalists must be able to express themselves without having to fear for their physical or professional survival. "Otherwise, Indian democracy...

-Reporters Without Borders Reporters Without Borders (RSF) calls on the Indian authorities to ban a group of pro-government Hindu nationalists who have launched an online campaign against “biased” journalists. RSF also urges the authorities to guarantee the physical and professional survival of journalists threatened by these militants. This online militia unveiled its existence on Twitter last week, calling itself “India Against Biased Media” and using the hashtag #IABM to recruit volunteers. Its...

-TheWire.in A drop in rice export rates from the top exporter, India, due to the falling rupee also weighed on demand for the Vietnamese variety. Bengaluru: Rice export prices in India fell this week as the rupee weakened, with the drop in rates from the top exporter also weighing on demand for the Vietnamese variety. Rates for India’s 5% broken parboiled rice fell by $3 per tonne to $389-$393 per tonne this week. “Rupee...

-PTI ‘The decline of groundwater inflow is also impacting the health of the river’ Kolkata: Ganga, the 2,600-km-long trans-boundary river of ASIa, has witnessed “unprecedented low levels of water in several lower reaches” in the last few summer seasons, a study undertaken by a professor of IIT-Kharagpur has said. The study, published recently in Scientific Reports magazine by Nature Publishing Group, used a combination of satellite images of groundwater levels of Ganga, numerical...

-Livemint.com The estimates of GDP and other related aggregates for the period 1993-94 to 2013-14 have been calculated by an NSC committee using a so-called production shift method New Delhi: India’s economy grew in double digits twice during the previous United Progressive Alliance government (UPA) under Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, 10.23% in 2007-08 and 10.78% in 2010-11, according to back series calculations by a committee appointed by the National Statistical Commission. However, the...