Dr QU Dongyu

Freshwater is not infinite, and we need to stop taking it for granted, writes Dr QU Dongyu, Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization

World Food Day 2023: We must not take water for granted

Business Standard

Tamil Nadu has achieved a milestone by registering over 10,000 startups with the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), under the Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry, the state government said on Sunday
StartupTN has played a crucial role in nurturing the ecosystem by implementing various schemes and initiatives like funding programmes, mentorship opportunities and incubation support, StartupTN Mission Director and CEO Shivaraja Ramanathan said.
The state's startup ecosystem has been 'thriving' with 9 regional hubs and a metro hub in Chennai, providing a robust infrastructure for budding entrepreneurs to grow, he said.
"Tamil Nadu has achieved a remarkable milestone of 10,000 DPIIT registered startups, a significant jump from 2,300 in March 2021. This exponential growth can be attributed to the revival of StartupTN under the leadership of Chief Minister M K Stalin focusing on supporting startups and fostering innovation," Ramanathan said in a social med

MK Stalin, Stalin

The overarching theme of this year has been the RBI's new approach to vigilance

RBI, Reserve Bank of India

According to The Verge, this feature is part of a broader rollout of context-aware capabilities in Gemini, designed to enhance the way users interact with their digital files

Gemini

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday hit out at Left parties for turning Tripura into a "backward" state during their 35-year rule and said it could witness progress only after the BJP assumed power in 2018.
Addressing a public meeting here after visiting a village where displaced Bru tribals were rehabilitated, Shah said that Tripura remained behind on all parameters of development during the communist rule but is now moving forward on the path of progress.
"For 35 years, the communists ruled Tripura. The communists claimed that they worked for the welfare of the poor. The Congress also ruled Tripura for a considerable time. But the people of the state always remained poor. It was when the BJP came to power that Tripura could witness development," he said.
Shah said when he visited Tripura in 2017 as BJP president and stayed for five days, only 11 people took party membership.  "Gradually we started our work. We worked hard and could oust the communists from power" after toiling

Amit Shah, Home Minister

The ceiling prices of seven other drugs were revised to include the impact of the 0.00551 per cent increase in drug prices in the National List of Essential Medicines

pharma

GST Council addresses disaster levy, clarifies tax exemptions, and revises ITC norms, while deferring insurance premium GST cut and key rate rationalisation decisions

GST council meeting

After two weeks of buying, FPIs turned net sellers in Indian equities this week, with a net withdrawal of Rs 976 crore amid a strengthening US dollar and steady rise in US 10-year bond yields, impacting investor sentiment.
Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) began the week on a positive note, investing Rs 3,126 crore in equities during the first two trading sessions (December 16-20).
However, the trend reversed in the latter half of the week, with FPIs offloading equities worth over Rs 4,102 crore in the subsequent three sessions. This resulted in an overall net outflow of Rs 976 crore during the week, data from National Securities Depository Limited showed.
Despite this short-term reversal, the broader December trend remains positive. FPIs have infused Rs 21,789 crore into Indian equities so far this month, reflecting continued confidence in India's economic growth potential and its resilient markets.
FPIs adopted a cautious approach due to the US Fed meeting and uncertainty about 

Foreign portfolio investor exodus: Financial sector bears the brunt, FPI

Fundraising via IPOs in India hit another landmark as economic growth, favourable market conditions and improvements in the regulatory framework helped companies raise a record Rs 1.6 lakh crore in 2024, while the pipeline for the next year holds out bigger promise.
This exceptional year not only reflected the confidence of issuers but also highlighted investors' eagerness to seize listing-day gains or back companies with strong long-term growth potential.
The year was marked by Hyundai Motor India's historic IPO, the largest in the country's history, which raised Rs 27,870 crore.
Companies of varying market capitalisations -- large, mid, and small -- tapped into the IPO route in 2024, with the average issue size rising significantly from Rs 867 crore in 2023 to over Rs 1,700 crore in 2024.
The exceptional vibrancy of the IPO market was evident, with December alone seeing at least 15 launches.
"Rising retail participation, strong domestic inflows and active participation by FPIs (

ipo market listing share market

The accumulated losses of state public sector enterprises (PSEs) rose from Rs 3,953.70 crore in 2020-21 to Rs 4,778.70 crore in 2022-23, while the profit earned by 13 SPSEs stood at Rs 20.21 crore as on September 30, 2023, according to a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) on finances tabled in the Assembly on Saturday.
The net worth of nine out of these 14 PSEs has been completely eroded by losses and their worth was (-) Rs 1,932 crore against an equity investment of Rs 2,085.59 crore, while three PSEs have outstanding government loans amounting Rs 3,132 crore, the report said.
Himachal Pradesh State Electricity Board topped the list of loss making enterprises with accumulated losses of Rs 1,809.61 crore, followed by Himachal Pradesh Road Corporation at Rs 1707.12 crore, HP Power Corporation at Rs 552 crore, Himachal Pradesh Power Transmission Corporation at Rs 395.91 crore, HP Financial Corporation at Rs 180.97 crore, State Forest Corporation at Rs 113.04 crore, HPM

The Centre may overshoot the Rs 56,260 crore target for dividend receipts from central public-sector enterprises (CPSEs) set for FY25 and is likely to end up getting around Rs 65,000 crore this financial year, according to a senior government officia

A 50-year-old doctor from Saudi Arabia, who has been living in Germany since 2006, is the prime suspect in the Christmas market attack in Magdeburg, which killed five people

Germany police

By 2050, India will host 15% of the world's silver generation, facing a rising wave of dementia

Dementia, old man

The initial public offer (IPO) of DAM Capital Advisors received bids for 5,71,69,722 shares as against 2,08,04,632 shares on offer

Quick commerce platform Zepto led major funding rounds this year, raising a total of $1.35 billion

Funding among Indian startups declined by a marginal 7 per cent in the first nine months of 2024 to $7.6 billion from $8.2 billion during the same period last year.

Kuldeep Singh Sengar, who is already serving a life sentence in a rape case in 2017, is also serving a 10-year term for the custodial death of the rape survivor's father

Kuldeep Singh Sengar

The changes will impact Indians trying to enter the UK illegally and also those who wish to work in the country legally

UK, UK immigration, UK visa

The Banning of Unregulated Lending Activities Bill calls for the CBI to handle probes in cases spanning multiple states or UTs

The Centre, in collaboration with states, has proposed to classify unregulated lending as a cognizable and non-bailable offence, with penalties including imprisonment of up to 10 years. The finance ministry has invited feedback by February 13 from st

The latest Economic Survey said, India has to find the right balance between importing goods from China and importing capital (FDI) from China

How policymakers are split over attracting Chinese investment into India

The official further noted that this year's Budget consultations are particularly significant due to the political outcomes of recent state elections

Nirmala Sitharaman, Nirmala

Congress calls FIR against Rahul Gandhi over Parliament scuffle a 'badge of honour', alleging BJP's vendetta and diversionary tactics to counter his protest against Amit Shah's Ambedkar remarks

Rahul Gandhi, Rahul, congress leader

The Opposition Congress has doubled down on its demand for Home Minister Amit Shah's resignation, citing his comments on B R Ambedkar

Rahul Gandhi, Rahul, Congress leader, Priyanka Gandhi, Priyanka

QU Dongyu

QU Dongyu

Qu Dongyu

World Food Day 2023: We must not take water for granted

Latest News

In this Section

All

Tamil Nadu achieves milestone with over 10,000 DPIIT-registered startups

2024 financial wrap: Inflation, GDP, and RBI's regulatory vigilance

Google's Gemini new update enables users to directly query PDFs on mobile

Tripura remained backward during Left rule, BJP brought development: Shah

NPPA sets retail prices for 65 drugs, revises ceiling for 20 formulations

Most Popular

Read

Shared

Commented

55th GST Council takes key decisions, defers rate cuts on insurance premium

FPIs pull out Rs 976 crore from Indian equities amid rising dollar

IPO boom: Record Rs 1.6 trn raised in 2024; bigger gains expected in 2025

Losses of Himachal's 30 PSEs rose from Rs 3,953 cr to Rs 4,778 cr: CAG

Who is the Saudi-born suspect behind Germany Christmas market attack?