-The Hindu The WTO Panel reports are a pointer to the U.S. — the once undisputed trade hegemon — turning away from free trade and moving toward growing protectionism In a significant development in international trade law, four separate World Trade Organization (WTO) Panel reports have ruled that the tariffs of 25% and 10% on steel and aluminium, respectively, that the United States (U.S.) had imposed during the presidency of Donald Trump...

-The Hindu Business Line The extended ban has affected the turnover of commodity exchanges * What are the agri commodities in which futures trading has been banned by SEBI? SEBI has banned futures trading in seven agri commodities, including the derivatives of two produce. The banned commodities are non-basmati paddy, wheat, chana (Bengal gram), mustard seed and its derivatives, soyabean and its derivatives, crude palm oil and moong (green gram). * Why were they...

-The Hindu With the Rajya Sabha Standing Committee on Health expressing concern over the high cost of cancer treatment, the Government invoking Section 100 of the Patents Act is a way forward The subject of the spiralling costs of cancer medicines and their implications that have frequently been highlighted the world over were dwelled on in a recent report (“Cancer Care Plan and Management”) by the Rajya Sabha’s Standing Committee on Health....

-The Hindu Business Line The National Food Security Act could adopt standardised criteria to identify beneficiaries across States/UTs India’s development report cards have long been plagued by high incidence of malnutrition, making it an often-cited example of the nation’s growth conundrum. With the country being home to more than one-third of undernourished children, it is evident that the problem underlines the need for a targeted and multi-sectoral approach, with the benefits of...

-The Hindu Of the 1,439 vacancies identified between September 2021 and 2022, only 449 were filled with faculty members from reserved categories, the Education Ministry told the Lok Sabha Despite a year-long mission mode recruitment drive to hire faculty for reserved category positions at the elite Indian Institutes of Technology and Central Universities, just over 30% of identified vacancies were filled, the Education Ministry told Parliament this week. In the one year between...