1.   

Emperor Akihito meets Manmohan Singh to boost India-Japan ties

Amidst sabre rattling between China and Japan, Japanese emperor Akihito and empress Michiko reached out to India on Monday during their six-day visit aimed at strengthening bonds with Asia’s third-largest economy. Akihito, who arrived in New Delhi on Saturday, met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday. The meeting lasted 45 minutes, well past the time allotted for the engagement, said Sakutaro Tanino, former Japanese ambassador to India, who is part of the royal couple’s delegation.

2.   

FM pegs economic growth at 5 pc for FY'14

The Indian economy is on the path of recovery. Growth will accelerate in the coming quarter and is expected to be around five percent for the current financial year, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram said Monday. The country's gross domestic product (GDP) growth rose to 4.8 percent in the quarter ended September as compared to 4.4 percent in the previous quarter, according to latest data from the Central Statistics Office (CSO). Average growth in the first two quarters of the current financial year stood at 4.6 percent.

3.   

Pawar for strong post-harvest infrastructure, appropriate farm technologies in northeast

Agriculture and Food Processing Industries Minister Sharad Pawar advocated the strengthening of post-harvest infrastructure in the north-eastern states and evolving farm technologies suitable for this region. Pawar, who inaugurated a new block of the College of Agriculture Engineering and Post Harvest Technology near Ranipool in Sikkim yesterday, expressed hope that this post-harvest technology college, the upcoming agriculture college in Arunachal and horticulture college in Sikkim and existing agricultural institutions will usher in fast growth of agriculture, animal husbandry, dairy and fishery sectors in the north east.

4.   

WTO’s ministerial meet in Bali to focus on India’s agri, food security

A number of topics that would be discussed at the ninth essay of the World Trade Orgainsation’s (WTO) ministerial conference, slated to take place in Bali, Indonesia, between December 3 and 6, 2013, will highlight India’s agriculture and food security issues. The LEAF Initiative, a Mumbai-based citizen awareness group, organised a press briefing at the city’s Marathi Patrakar Sangh on Monday. The topic was ‘How the WTO will impact India’s food security and agriculture’. Devinder Sharma, agricultural policy analyst, was the speaker.