-The Business Standard Under-recovery estimated to touch Rs 1.5 lakh cr in FY14 due to rising crude oil prices & falling rupee The fall in the rupee to a new low this week has made the government jittery, as the under-recovery on petroleum products is threatening to touch Rs 150,000 crore in 2013-14, despite phased diesel decontrol and capping of subsidised cooking gas cylinders. According to the petroleum ministry's estimates, for every rupee...

-The Indian Express But parties can be made to disclose their finances compulsorily We have received a number of inquiries about the CPI's position on bringing parties under the Right to Information (RTI) Act. The decision of the Central Information Commission (CIC) that political parties should come under the RTI, as they receive a substantial amount of financial help from the government, has been rejected by all parties. Many eyebrows were raised...

-The Economic Times CHENNAI: India's patent appeals board has denied Monsanto a patent for a genetically-engineered method of increasing climate resilience in plants. The decision is significant not only for Monsanto's loss of possible exclusivity in an increasingly important segment but also for the interpretation of India's home-grown clauses in patent law - these are unpopular with global companies - for the first time in the case of plants. The Intellectual Property...

-The Hindu Six years after it was set up to challenge mainstream media discourse, kafila.org has not only provided an alternative space for critical writing, but also offered a radical model of editor-less, ad-free, voluntary journalism with a zero marketing budget Aditya Nigam, an academic and activist on the left, had long been frustrated with the nature of the Indian media. In 2002, soon after the Gujarat ‘massacres', he was a part of...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Competition Commission of India is investigating if rating company TAM Media Research Pvt Ltd abused its dominant position in violation of the Competition act. It has asked the company to furnish details on whether it has imposed conditions of exclusive supply that resulted in foreclosure of the market for competitors and provide details if it had created entry barriers, including regulatory ones. TAM has been given...