Coal companies in the public and the private sector should share either their profits or their royalty with project-affected people, Union Minister of State (Independent charge) Sriprakash Jaiswal said. Talking to the media after addressing a seminar on “Indian coal sector: issues and prospects” here on Monday, he said this would become law once the new mining policy was finalised. When asked for his views on this issue, he said, “We...

Farmers in Madhya Pradesh have demanded a subsidy for practising eco-friendly measures to tackle India's soil degradation crisis, environmental group Greenpeace India said Saturday. The farmers held a public hearing in this Madhya Pradesh town to review the major soil health management support systems of the central government and its capability to solve the soil degradation crisis. Several agriculture experts, government officials, politicians and representatives of civil society attended the hearing held...

Touching upon the gaping difference between the haves and have-nots, AB Bardhan, vice president, AITUC and CPI general secretary, on Tuesday said that a soaring Sensex was seen along with the soaring rate of hunger in the country today. Speaking at the centenary celebrations of Prabhat Kar, organised by the All India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA), and the All India Bank Officers Association (AIBOA) here, he described Prabhat Kar as a...

An inter-ministerial panel will decide on the contentious issue of opening organised retail to foreign investment after examining stakeholder feedback to the discussion paper put out by the government. “A panel of six ministries was constituted on September 27, which will be chaired by Kewal Ram, senior economic advisor in the consumer affairs ministry,” a government official told ET. The committee will have representation from the department of industrial policy and promotion,...

The mountainous state-owned food stocks lying in the open and rotting in the rain are in stark conflict with a failing public distribution system , hunger, malnutrition and high food prices. The poor management of food stocks provoked the Supreme Court to transgress into executive domain when, on August 12, the court made certain directions like limiting procurement to covered warehousing capacity and distributing the rotting foodgrains free of cost...