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New Delhi: India has signed a 59.1 million US dollar agreement with the ADB for the second tranche of the Himachal Pradesh Clean Energy development Investment Program.

New Delhi: Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India Limited (SPMCIL), a Mini-Ratna enterprise of the Government of India, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA), Ministry of Finance. The agreement sets an ambitious business target of Rs. 2750 crores for the fiscal 2010-11, aiming at an increase of about 10% over 2009-10 targets. This is over and above already high base established by SPMCIL by achieving consistently significant growth in its turnover for last three years since 2007-08.

Describing the agriculture sector as the centre-stage in the Government's resolve to promote inclusive growth, enhance rural incomes and sustain food security, the Finance Minister, Shri Pranab Mukherjee, proposed nearly 21.6 per cent increase in the Central Plan outlay for this sector in the 2010-11 Union Budget. This is the biggest step up in the plan allocation for this sector in several years.

New Delhi: The first meeting of Reforms Implementation and Monitoring Committee constituted under the Chairmanship of Shri Dinesh Rai, Secretary (MSME) was held in New Delhi. The Committee will provide policy and technical guidance, review and monitor the progress of implementation of 150 million US dollars Khadi Reforms and Development Programme (KRDP) being held with the assistance of Asian Development Bank

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is helping 16 African countries step up their fight against money-laundering and the use of their lucrative gold and diamond industries to fund terrorism through a range of technical assistance programs and seminars targeted at helping countries address institutional weaknesses.

The WTO's Agriculture Committee has moved to make members' exchanges on their policies more readily available to the public. For the first time, questions and answers on farm trade policies in the 10 March 2010 meeting are being compiled into official WTO documents, with restricted circulation at first and then available publicly after 60 to 90 days.

The demand by domestic airlines, led by private operators Jet and Kingfisher, for withdrawal of service tax imposed in the 2010-11 union budget is unjust and uncalled for. If at all, the service tax will be a burden on passengers and not on airlines. Consumers bear the indirect tax. The service tax, as per civil aviation industry estimates, may lead to an average increase in the price of air tickets by Rs 250 for all domestic destinations. This is not a big amount for air-travellers. Air travellers are forced to pay airport tax at high rates in the newly-built Hyderabad, Mumbai and Delhi airports.

A day of shame in the annals of Free India's Parliament was reversed in 24 hours with a historic passage by the Rajya Sabha on March 9, of the bill to provide one-third representation for women in the Lok Sabha and State Assemblies. This Constitutional amendment bill, which had languished for a decade and a half in Parliament was solidly voted for, 191 to one, after the defiant group of seven members of the Samajwadi Party, RJD and LJP was eased out of the House by the marshals.

As anticipated, the Nicaraguan economy has been affected by the global economic crisis, and real GDP growth is expected to have contracted by about 1.5 percent during 2009. At the same time, inflation fell below 1 percent, due to weak domestic demand and lower world commodity prices. Recent data appears to indicate that the economy has begun recovering, consistent with a resumption of positive real GDP growth during 2010.

New York: The United Nations human rights commissioner, in her first official visit to Italy, has raised concerns that the country's authorities are treating Roma and migrants as security problems rather than looking at ways to include them in society.