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New Delhi: Union Finance Minister Shri Pranab Mukherjee held a meeting with different Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs) to get their inputs for General Budget 2011-12, here today. This was the fourth meeting in the series of pre-Budget consultations held by Finance Minister with the stakeholders of different sectors. First meeting was held on 7th January with the stakeholders of agriculture sector followed by meetings with captains of Indian industry on 11th January and representatives of different trade unions yesterday i.e., 12th January, 2011.

New Delhi: India and the World Bank today agreed to further strengthen their partnership to advance India’s green-growth agenda. The Bank will now support to strengthen Indian capacity of Central Pollution Controls Board, State Pollution Control Boards and biodiversity conservation in addition to other various projects for which financial support have already been given. In a meeting here today between Minister of State for Environment & Forests (Independent Charge) Shri Jairam Ramesh and World Bank Group President Robert B. Zoellick discussed the government’s vision for a strong and sustainable development agenda.

New Delhi: The Defence Minister Shri AK Antony formally released the Defence Procurement Procedure-2011 at a function here today. Presenting the first copy of the document to the Director General Acquisition Shri Vivek Rae, Shri Antony said the intent of the revised Defence Procurement Procedure is to expand our defence industrial base, encourage indigenous defence production and reduce defence imports.

New Delhi: With a view to achieve substantive self reliance in design, development and production of defence equipment, weapon systems and platforms, the Defence Minister Shri AK Antony unveiled the first ever Defence Production Policy (DPrP) here today. The policy also aims at creating conditions conducive for the private industries to play an active role to achieve the objective. DPrP will act as a catalyst to enhance potential of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) for indigenisation as also for broadening the defence research and development base of the country.

New Delhi: Anand Sharma, Union Minister of Commerce and Industry, will be leading a high-level delegation to Singapore. Shri Sharma will inaugurate the India Show, tomorrow in Singapore along with his Singaporean counterpart, Trade and Industry Minister Mr. Lim Hng Kiang. Coinciding with the event, “Indovations” - India's ideas for the world – a Symposium is being organised focussing on key areas of the Indian economy –manufacturing, services and infrastructure.

New Delhi: The terms of the existing Legislative Assemblies of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, West Bengal, Assam and Puducherry are expiring in May-June, 2011. In view of this, the Election Commission is required to hold General Elections to constitute the new Legislative Assemblies in these States. The Commission is taking all necessary measures including keeping a watch on the law and order situation in these States.

Politics is warming up with national parties building up the tempo to make corruption and price rise as twin poll issues in 2011. This will be tested in the April-May Assembly polls to five states including Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Assam. A scrutiny of their manifestoes in the 2009 polls reveals that most parties did not even mention the word corruption while the BJP buried it inside.

The resource requirement in a developing economy for investment usually exceeds the availability of resources that could be domestically generated. In India, the Gross Domestic Investment have historically been short of the Gross Domestic Savings by around 1.2 to 1.3 per cent of GDP on an annual basis. Countries, therefore, encourage the inflow of capital from abroad to supplement the domestic savings for a higher investment and a larger increase in production capacities. Foreign Direct Investment is considered as the most preferred route of supplementing the domestic savings as it brings along with the investment new management practices and technologies. Besides enlarging the productive capacity they also contribute to enhancement of export potential/earning of the country.

MANILA, PHILIPPINES - The People's Republic of China (PRC) should continue to promote its various payment mechanisms for ecological services and encourage more private sector funding for environmental protection, says a joint publication launched today by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the PRC's National Development and Reform Commission.

Even though the growing middle class in Latin America is becoming an engine of economic progress, this group remains economically vulnerable when compared with high income OECD countries, according to the OECD Development Centre’s Latin American Economic Outlook 2010.