-Outlook Mandatory mixing of five per cent ethanol in petrol will be implemented across the country from next month, Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs decided today, a step which will help the country save around 100 crore litres of fuel every year. In 2009, the CCEA had decided to mix five per cent ethanol in petrol but it could not be implemented due to opposition by some sections in the chemical and...

-The Economic Times It has never happened since Independence. May be not even in the last 1,000 years what happened during October 2011-September 2012. India exported 10 million tonnes of rice, valued at around $6 billion, becoming the largest exporter of rice, replacing Thailand and Vietnam, generally the two largest exporters of rice. This is now known to many in rice circles. But what is little known is that in 2011-12, India also emerged...

-Outlook Kochi: Reserve Bank Governor D Subbarao today ruled out introduction of Islamic banking in the country but said other methods for channelising funds based on the principles of Islamic law can be looked at. "Islamic banking is not possible", he said, adding the central bank could look at other vehicles based on Islamic banking principles to channelise NRI funds. Replying to a question on the issue, Subbarao said: "There are some legal...

-The Economic Times The government did not waste much time in recommending to the President that Ajmal Kasab's clemency plea be rejected as the Supreme Court had said three months ago that if death sentence was to be imposed only in "one in a million case" , then this was the one which deserved capital punishment. The court, upholding the decision of the trial court which was affirmed by the Bombay high...

-Outlook The Supreme Court has said its Constitution bench's landmark judgement of 1980 on criterion for imposing death penalty needs a "fresh look" as there has been "no uniformity" in following its principles on what constitutes "the rarest of rare" cases. "This court has not endorsed the approach of aggravating and mitigating circumstances in Bachan Singh (case). However, this approach has been adopted in several decisions. This needs a fresh look. In...