Most key rabi-producing states of north India, such as Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, have staggered their procurement to enable farmers to come in batches, so that there is no overcrowding. The Centre has also set up a call centre to coordinate the inter-state movement of farm commodities.
Some 500,000 drivers and helpers have been left high and dry because of lockdown; many of these trucks are carrying essential goods.
'What's sad today is that there are so many people who cannot find work, not because the country is devoid of that opportunity, but because we are not doing enough in the country.'
There has not been a large impact of untimely rain and hailstorm so far in several major wheat-growing areas, and those might have damaged around 3 per cent of the standing crop -- not enough to make a big dent in the expected 112 million tonnes of production in FY24, a senior government official said on Tuesday. Relentless rain pounded most North Indian states all through March. Separately, the chairman of Food Corporation of India (FCI), Ashok K Meena, told reporters the agency was on track to achieve the targeted 34 million tonnes of procurement in FY24 on the back of a strong start to the purchase season from Madhya Pradesh.
'An important dimension that shone through was the enormous pride in India, a general belief that as Indians we are starting to count globally and we are at the forefront of the world.'
'It has been an ongoing process, talking to the relevant ministries about eliminating leakages and curbing non-core expenditure in various schemes.'
Pressure from the Soren clan is only one of the challenges Champai faces as he readies himself to helm the predominantly tribal state.
While some states have kicked in their heat action plans, experts feel this is not enough to tackle the current extreme weather.
After reports of contamination in cough syrups sent from the country, India is considering a system to test them before exporting. It is learnt that the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) has sent a proposal to the Union health ministry on this. The idea is to test the medicines at government labs before exporting.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah after a Cabinet meeting here on Wednesday said that the government has decided to go for open market tender to procure rice, whose process will start from Thursday.
'I decided to send a bat and a ball which was smaller in size so that it shouldn't get stuck in the pipe. And with that, they had a little good time.'
'The corruption charges in FCI are not the first and won't be the last.'
Kerala, Punjab, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh are among the major agriculturally important states that have banned the use of glyphosate citing its adverse impact on human health.
The Twitter owner on Thursday had posted: "Lil X just asked if there are police cats, since there are police dogs."
Indonesia, the world's biggest supplier of palm oil, said on Thursday it will lift a ban on exports from Monday, likely helping India and other importers. India annually imports around 13-13.5 million tonne of edible oils, of which around 8-8.5 million tonnes (around 63 per cent) is palm oil. Of this, 8-8.5 million tonnes of palm oil, 45-50 per cent comes from Indonesia and the rest from neighboring Malaysia.
"It has been decided that for approval of COVID-19 vaccines in India for restricted use in emergency situation which are already approved for restricted use by US Food Drug Administration, European Medicines Agency, UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Agency Japan or which are listed in WHO Emergency Use Listing and which are well established vaccines from the stand point that millions of individuals have already been vaccinated with the said vaccines, the requirement of conducting post approval bridging clinical trials and of testing every batch of vaccine by CDL, Kasauli can be exempted, if the vaccine batch/lot has been certified and released by National Control Laboratory of country of origin," it said.
Cyclone 'Biparjoy', the first storm brewing in the Arabian Sea this year, has rapidly intensified into a severe cyclonic storm, with meteorologists predicting a 'mild' monsoon onset over Kerala and 'weak' progress beyond southern peninsular under its influence.
Ghoomer is an efficient crowd-pleaser that puts a lump in the throat, a tear in the eyes, and a smile on the face, all at the same time, applauds Mayur Sanap.
Parle Agro, which sells beverages such as Frooti in small tetra packs, has already started importing paper straws. Dabur India, which sells its fruit juices in tetra packs under the brand Real, is also considering importing paper straws.
The limited availability of flexible (flex)-fuel vehicles in the Indian market and the slow rollout of ethanol-blended petrol by oil-marketing companies (OMCs) remain major obstacles to achieving widespread use of biofuels in the transportation sector in India. Recently, two Union ministers have emphasised India's biofuel potential, arguing that it has the capacity and potential to lead a transition towards widespread biofuel adoption. Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari signalled that this transition is well underway and urged car manufacturers to quickly adapt and introduce new biofuel-run vehicles, lest the government resort to taxing diesel vehicles.
Trade mission has been supported by USTDA in response to President Barack Obama's call for increased cooperation in agriculture during his trip to India in November last year.
Four Supreme Court judges and almost five per cent of its staff have tested positive for COVID-19, official sources said on Sunday, as the national capital witnesses a sharp spike in coronavirus cases.
'Rhetoric and chest-thumping are running high on India's recent growth record.'
'But will the giant waves developing elsewhere allow us to sail smoothly into fair winds?' asks Debashis Basu.
States have been told to prepare in advance to counter any impact of an adverse southwest monsoon.
India's drug regulator Drugs Controller General of India has granted permission to Mumbai-based pharmaceutical company Cipla to import Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine for restricted emergency use in the country, official sources said on Tuesday.
"Not a single step has been taken by this government to empower small businesses in India," says Praveen Khandelwal, national secretary general of the Confederation of All India Traders and former treasurer of the Bharatiya Janata Party's Delhi unit.
Taking a dig at UPA government's ambitious food security programme, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi has said that the Centre was under the impression that merely bringing in the Bill would lead to food reaching the needy.
The Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) on Friday allowed Chhath Puja celebrations at designated sites in the city except the banks of Yamuna river.
'If you look at the order books of capital equipment companies or money deployed on the ground, there is forward movement in terms of actual investment by the private sector.'
India's drug regulator has initiated a probe and sought further details from the WHO after the global health body issued an alert that cough syrups manufactured by an Indian firm could potentially be linked to the death of children in Gambia.
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on March 17 had announced that State Bank of India (SBI) would extend a term loan of $1 billion to Sri Lanka, fully guaranteed by the Indian government, and this was part of India's financial aid to the troubled island nation. Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Arindam Bagchi was quoted saying by news agency PTI that the loan would be used for importing food, medicines, and other essential items. "India has always stood with the people of Sri Lanka and we will continue to extend all possible support at this juncture.
'Mumbai's corroding infrastructure, Delhi's pollution, Bangalore's rain water drainage, Kolkata's electricity -- these are all real and serious life threatening situations.'
Adar Poonawalla said he was hopeful that Covovax, the Novavax vaccine made by SII, will be launched around October this year for adults and for children by the first quarter of next year, depending on DCGI approvals.
'It is a package for a new self-reliant India.'
A head of its meeting, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) can take some solace from the softening food commodity prices. However, the events surrounding the last few weeks show that the fall may not be uniform across all commodities, and cereals like wheat and rice could be the outliers. A Reuters report said that local wheat prices jumped to a record Rs 23,547 per tonne on Wednesday. That is a 12 per cent rise from the recent lows that followed the government's surprise ban on exports on May 14.
Will Empire strike back to prevent a game changing election result, asks T P Sreenivasan.
The CBI's case against Mulayam has been killed by politics, says Sreenivasan Jain
More than 200 million Pfizer doses have been administered in the US, and hundreds of millions more worldwide, since December.
When the Tatas re-boarded Air India on January 27 last year, the price of aviation turbine fuel was at over Rs 80,000 per kilolitre. Rupee was trading at around Rs 74 to a US dollar. The Omicron variant of Covid-19 was in prevalence - barely a week earlier, India had reported over 340,000 cases on a single day. Seven-day home quarantine of international travellers was the norm.
The government on Friday came out with new guidelines to prevent misleading advertisements, including those targeting children and making free claims to woo consumers.
