-Down to Earth A high level UN panel on Access to Medicines wants members to make full use of TRIPS flexibilities to protect public health If ever India needed a clear endorsement of its laws on intellectual property rights (IPRs) and their application in meeting public health priorities, it has come from the highest quarters. The report of the UN Secretary General’s High Level Panel (HLP) on Access to Medicines has, directly...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: The government has declared 362 towns and cities in 15 states free of open defecation, with Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra topping the chart and Bengal scoring a duck. The Swachh Bharat Abhiyan aims to make the whole of India open-defecation-free by 2019. In Gujarat, 167 urban local bodies have been provided with open-defecation-free certificates, followed by 91 in Andhra Pradesh and 70 in Maharashtra. (See chart)     "A ward...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: Each citizen who performs at least two cashless transactions with the government will earn their district administration an extra Rs 10 from the Niti Aayog, to be spent on promoting e-payments across the population. This incentive comes over and above a sum of Rs 5 lakh that every district will receive for the campaign, launched today to try and make all government-citizen transactions cashless. As part of the drive,...

-PTI Amritsar: Aiming to move towards a cashless India, the Centre and states could soon have powers to specify categories of employers who will have to pay wages either THRough cheques or by crediting the amount directly into the workers’ bank account. “The Government is ready with the Payment of Wages (Amendment) Bill, 2016 which seeks to empower the Centre as well as states to specify industrial or other establishments where employers...

-PTI The platform has also drafted a model Domestic Workers Regulation of Work and Social Security Bill and discussion on it was held with various stakeholders. New Delhi: Civil society organisations and trade unions under the banner of National Platform for Domestic Workers today demanded a comprehensive legislation to regulate their working condition and provisions for social security benefits. The platform has also drafted a model Domestic Workers Regulation of Work and...