Agriculture still dictates economy: RBI annual report
The RBI’s annual report (2006-07) says that India is witnessing an all time high economic growth rate. However, this could have been higher had agriculture fared well. The annual report is considered the most credible assessment of the economy. Read highlights.

Farmer suicides continue in Vidarbha
As Prime Minister Manmohan Singh reviewed the special package for farmers in the Vidarbha region, the state government claimed that the overall suicide rate in Maharashtra’s six districts has come down from 760 in the first seven months of 2006 to 664 in the same period in 2007.

India’s wheat import triggers price rise
A call for more supplies from the Centre sent the price of wheat soaring to record levels on commodity exchanges in the last week of August.

Forest dwellers demand more rights over forests
After the passage of the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act 2006, many tribal and forest rights organisations and activists have demanded changes in the rules notified by the Union ministry of tribal affairs.

Alert for guar gum exporters
The European Union Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed has informed all member states that in certain batches of guar gum from India, dioxins and pentachlorophenol levels are very high. The alert has created a panic among the guar gum traders.

Communities oppose nuclear power plant
Even though the Orissa government is yet to give its consent to the public sector Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd for setting up its proposed mega plant at Patisonapur in the state’s Ganjam district, people of the area have started raising their voices against the project.

Government buying rescues coir board from losses
Coir Board-run sales showrooms have reduced losses drastically, and will make profit during the current fiscal. Driven by increased buying from Central government departments and institutions, the board showrooms have decreased losses by Rs 30-40 lakh in the current fiscal -- down from Rs 1.24 crore in the previous year.

Government will continue to acquire land on behalf of industries
A GoM headed by agriculture minister Sharad Pawar, looking into the rehabilitation and resettlement policy, has decided that states will have the power to acquire up to 30 per cent land required by a developer if the latter acquires 70 per cent upfront.

Panchayati raj minister demands jurisdiction over municipalities
Union minister for panchayati raj Mani Shankar Aiyar has asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to detach municipalities from the Union ministry of urban development and hand them to his ministry.

1 per cent of GDP for panchayats
The Council of State Ministers of Panchayati Raj has asked the Planning Commission and the Union ministry of finance to allocate 1 per cent of all centrally sponsored schemes to the Union ministry of panchayati raj for capability building and mobilising technical support in local rural governments across the states.

Globalisation makes poverty acute
An empirical study by the Rajiv Gandhi Chair for Panchayati Raj at the Gandhigram Rural University in Tamil Nadu has found that globalisation has further impoverished the poor and rendered several small and traditional occupations unviable.