According to the final recommendations of an expert committee, the weight of primary (unprocessed) food items will go down by 0.5-1.0 percentage points in the new series compared to the current one
For 2014-15, the bill on this account is likely to be 12.8% more than in 2013-14.
India will extend the visa-on-arrival facility to all countries except eight with effect from September. The countries not covered under this single-entry e-visa facility, meant for purposes other than paid employment and education with a one-month time limit, are Pakistan, Sudan, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Nigeria, Sri Lanka and Somalia. The facility is currently available to 11 countries, including New Zealand, Singapore, Luxembourg, Japan and Finland.
Infrastructure investments in politically-expedient sectors such as water supply, sanitation and irrigation have seen an increase during the first year of the 12th Five-Year Plan (2012-13 to 2016-17), but the same did not get replicated in other critical sectors.
Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi has called a meeting of chief ministers of party-ruled states to chalk out the party's strategy in the run-up to the general election. The leaders would focus on setting up of Lokayuktas in a time-bound manner in states and curbing food inflation.
Cabinet note being readied, on basis of study, to ensure against foodgrain shortage; might require buffer of up to 50% more.
Survey likely to be tabled in July by the new government.
Govt floated import tender, allowed import without fumigation.
According to a senior Planning Commission official, according to the new criteria evolved by members Abhijit Sen and Mihir Shah, henceforth BRGF amounts will be allocated on the basis of backward blocks and not just districts.
As the country faces the possibility of a fractured mandate after the 2014 general elections, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia is of the view that in an era of coalition governments, special steps are needed to build consensus around policies or else, India will not be able to grow at its full potential.
For the past few weeks, the government has been in an overdrive, pushing stuck projects with the larger aim to improve the country's economic growth, which had fallen to a four-year low of 4.4 per cent in the first quarter of this financial year.
Withdrawals from basic savings bank deposit accounts are capped at four a month, including withdrawals via ATMs.
Ledger entries in NSEL books show no record of T+2 leg of the paired trades with borrowers.
In the past two decades, the country's economic growth slipped below five per cent in only three years - in 1997-98, 2000-01 and 2002-03.
The government had pegged food subsidy at Rs 90,000 crore (Rs 900 billion) in the 2013-14 Union Budget.
Laxity in enforcing KYC and allied norms suspected; money laundering gaps also on probe panel's mind
The stock and foreign exchange markets have had a negative reaction to the government's biggest social security programme, the National Food Security Bill. Food minister K V Thomas questions the rationale behind such a response
A five-seven per cent agriculture growth in 2013-14 would mean farming might exceed the 12th Five-Year Plan annual growth target of four per cent, if the trend continues.
Likely to set the ball rolling for Rs 1.72-lakh-cr projects today
The finance ministry and several agencies under it such as the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED), which are investigating the affairs of Sahara India Parivar, are worried about its exposure to National Spot Exchange Ltd (NSEL) products.