Govt's big infra push: Nod to road projects worth Rs 50,655 crore

In a big push for infrastructure spending, the Union government approved eight national highspeed corridor projects under which 936 km length highways will be constructed at a cost Rs 50,655 crore.

After a meeting of the Prime Minister-chaired Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), a statement by the government said the implementation of these projects will generate 4.42 crore of direct and indirect employment.

Four of these eight highways will be executed under the Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) model, indicating the government's keenness to return to PPP (Public Private Partnership) projects. In the last financial year, only one of the total 176 projects was tendered under the BOT model.

Be a bridge between Centre & state, PM tells Governors; President says prioritise poor

Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged Governors to play the role of "an effective bridge" between the Centre and the state. He asked them to interact with people and social organisations in a manner that coopts the underprivileged.

The Prime Minister made these remarks at the two-day Conference of Governors that began at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. 

Centre flags security of Israeli facilities, Al puts off flights to Tel Aviv

The back-to-back assassinations of a Hamas leader and a senior Hezbollah commander have prompted security agencies in India to take a relook at the safety of Israeli establishments in the country.

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was killed in Tehran, where he had gone to attend the inauguration of the newly elected Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, on July 31. A day earlier, Hezbollah's Fuad Shukr was killed in an airstrike in Lebanon's capital, Beirut. 

EC to visit J&K on Aug 8-10 to review Assembly poll work

The Election Commission (EC) is set to visit Jammu and Kashmir from August 8 to 10 to review Assembly poll preparations, ahead of the Supreme Court's September 30 deadline for holding elections in the Union Territory.

Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar and Election Commissioners Gyanesh Kumar and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu will visit Srinagar on August 8 and 9, and then Jammu on August 10, EC sources said.

The commission had last visited J&K on March 12 and March 13 to review preparations for the Lok Sabha elections, just days before the general elections were announced on March 16. Usually, elections are announced soon after the full commission visits a state or UT. 

40 yrs after Rakesh Sharma, Subhanshu Shukla to be 2nd Indian to travel to space

Group Captain Subhanshu Shukla will most likely become the first Indian in space in 40 years with the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) naming him the 'prime' astronaut for the first ISRO-NASA mission to the International Space Station.

ISRO said it had selected Shukla, 39, and Group Captain Prasanth Balakrishnan Nair, 48, for the Axiom-4 mission, and named Shukla as the 'prime' astronaut, meaning he would be the one who would go to the International Space Station. Nair is the backup for this mission. He will take over in case Shukla is unable to go due to any reason.

Only one Indian has ever been in space till now - Rakesh Sharma - who was wing commander when he flew on a Soviet spacecraft in 1984.

Shukla and Nair are among the four Indian Air Force officers selected for India's first manned space mission, Gaganyaan, which is now tentatively scheduled for next year. The two will undergo further mission-specific training for the next eight weeks, an ISRO official said. 

Govt reissues draft notification to declare over 56,000 sq km of Western Ghats as eco-sensitive

The Central government issued the sixth iteration of a draft notification, declaring 56,825.7 sq km of the Western Ghats an ecologically sensitive area (ESA) in the states of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

The notification has been reissued after the previous draft, notified on July 6, 2022, lapsed; the Centre and these six states have not arrived at a consensus on the extent of ESA to be demarcated in the ecological hotspot. 

The ESAS proposed across these states are spread over 449 sq km in Gujarat, Maharashtra (17,340 sq km), Goa (1,461 sq km), Karnataka (20,668 sq km), Tamil Nadu (6,914 sq km), and Kerala (9,993.7 sq km). The Centre has provided a window of 60 days to submit objections and suggestions on the draft. 

What are the legal challenges to the Great Nicobar infrastructure project?

Conclusions of a report by a high-powered committee (HPC), formed by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) to review the green clearances for the mega infrastructure project at Great Nicobar Island, were submitted to NGT's Kolkata Bench by the Andaman and Nicobar Islands Integrated Development Corporation Ltd (ANIIDCO). ANIIDCO is the implementing agency of the project.

The report concluded that the proposed trans-shipment port, part of the project, does not fall in Island Coastal Regulation Zone-IA (ICRZ-IA), where ports are prohibited, but in ICRZ-IB, where they are permitted.

The HPC was formed in response to the appeals filed before the Kolkata Bench of NGT in 2022, challenging the green clearances for the Rs 72,000-crore infra upgrade, which the

government considers of vital importance to India's national security. 

LAYING A NEW FIELD

Private sector investment in agriculture technologies - those helping boost crop yields or cutting production costs for Indian farmers - has been halting in the last decade or more. 

This is unlike in the first two decades after liberalisation, which saw a host of agronomic interventions - from hybrid seeds in vegetables and maize, genetically modified (GM) Bt cotton, tissue-culture and high-density planting of fruit crops, drip irrigation and laser land levelling, to fast-growing broiler chicken and layer breeder birds. 

These were all introduced by private players, both Indian (Mahyco, Jain Irrigation, Venky's, Suguna) and multinational (Monsanto/Bayer, Syngenta, Pioneer/Corteva). 

That flow of innovations has slowed considerably. One reason was an extended period of low farm prices following the collapse of a decade-long global commodity boom in 2013-14. 

Before the landslide

Nearly half of Kerala comprises hills and mountainous regions with slopes exceeding 20 degrees, making these areas particularly prone to landslides during heavy rains. 

Beyond making the state climate resilient, it is crucial to evaluate land use changes and development activities in landslide-prone areas. 

Landslides and flash floods often occur in regions where the impacts of both climate change and human intervention in land use are evident.

Govt, RBI turn cautious over unrestricted foreign fund flows into longer-term bonds

Over a month after India government bonds (IGBs) were included in the much-awaited JP Morgan's emerging markets bond indices, the government and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) have turned cautious and excluded long-term government bonds with 14-year and 30-year tenors from the Fully Accessible Route (FAR).

The decision was taken earlier this week amid speculation about more unrestricted inflows by foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) which can trigger uncertainties and risks in the future.

As the inclusion of Indian bonds will be staggered into the GBI-EM Global Diversified Index (GBI-EM GD) over 10 months (starting June 28, 2024, through March 31, 2025), official sources don't rule out more FPI flow into Indian long-term bonds through FAR. 

Sebi looking to demystify IPO filing process for faster approval: Chief Buch

Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) is looking to simplify the initial public offer (IPO) filing process by bringing in a template-based 'fill-in-the-blank' kind of document which will help in bringing down the approval process, its Chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch said.

The capital markets regulator is also bringing in an innovative product which would be a combination of rights issue and preferential allotment of shares, she said. 

Is this the right time to invest in gold and gold-linked instruments?

Domestic gold prices have fallen by nearly 5 per cent since July 23, when Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman lowered the customs duty on the yellow metal. 

While this duty cut led to a fall in gold prices, it also resulted in a surge in the demand for the precious metal. With the drop in prices, is the time right to invest in gold and gold-related instruments?