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...

The Supreme Court dismissed the government’s review petition in the Vodafone tax case on Tuesday, affirming its January ruling that put overseas transfers of shares outside the Indian tax net. The review petition and last week’s budget proposals seeking retrospective changes have revived the uncertainty over tax laws, according to government officials, the Planning Commission and businesses. If Parliament passes the budget in its current form, the judgement in the Vodafone case...

-PTI The UIDAI's Aadhaar project for providing unique identity numbers to residents, has huge potential to improve the delivery of social sector schemes like rural employment guarantee, the Economic Survey 2011-12 said. "Aadhaar has huge potential for improving operations and delivery of services," the survey said. The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), attached to the Planning Commission, is engaged in providing residents in the country a Unique Identification number (called Aadhaar) linked...

-Reuters The Indian government has no plans to buy farmland abroad or help private companies do so, agriculture minister Sharad Pawar said on Monday, after a local media report said New Delhi was debating the issue. “There is no government proposal. The ministry has not taken up this proposal,” Pawar told reporters. The Economic Times had in its Monday edition quoted the ministry’s top civil servant, farm secretary P K Basu, saying it...

-PTI State agriculture marketing boards today said FDI inmulti-brand retail will harm farmers, particularly small and marginal peasants. "Farmers are certainly going to be affected if FDI into multi-brand retail is given a go-ahead. It will mainly cause concerns to small and marginal farmers who have less than four hectares of land," the National Council of State Agricultural Marketing Boards (COSAMB) Managing Director S S Randhawa said while addressing a farmers' meet...