-The Hindu Opposition parties, including the newly resurgent Aam Aadmi Party, a slew of people's movements and even RSS affiliates, have decided to join hands to challenge the Centre on the controversial Land Acquisition Ordinance. Emboldened by the results of the Delhi Assembly elections, these groups plan to hold protests together in the capital from February 22 to 24, coinciding with the start of the Budget Session of Parliament. For the ruling NDA,...

-PTI   Pune: Ahead of the Budget, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday assured investors more reforms as he rolled out the red carpet to multinationals, inviting them to make use of the large pool of highly talented youth in the country. "I invite all those who want to participate in the economic development of the country to generate employment for our youth. Your (investors) growth is also linked to our growth," the...

-The Hindu Tropical diseases have often been neglected by pharmaceuticals because the size of the drug market is smaller, people have lower incomes and companies are uncertain about IPR January marked an important breakthrough in the fight against tropical diseases. Researchers and the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB) in Delhi found a drug candidate that prevented TB and malaria pathogens from infecting human blood cells. It is not just that...

-The Hindu Measures on urea, LPG, kerosene to go The Modi government is putting on hold its plans for some key economic reforms Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had announced in his maiden Budget last July. These include decontrol of urea prices, fewer subsidised cylinders a year and withdrawal of kerosene from the public distribution system (PDS). Fertilizer Minister Ananth Kumar told The Hindu that the administered price controls for urea would stay. "We...

-The Indian Express The finance minister plans to scrap the supply of subsidised kerosene through the public distribution system (PDS) and high time, too. To begin with, why has the kerosene subsidy needed reform for decades and yet reform never materialised? Kerosene obtained through the PDS, being cheaper, is used to adulterate diesel and petrol. Kerosene leakages in the PDS are estimated to be 40 per cent of total allocations. The diversion...