-Livemint.com * A third of the firms in MCA-21 database used to calculate GDP found dodgy * Results from the MCA-21 database survey were so disappointing that two reports based on it had to be junked NEW DELHI: A key database introduced in India’s new gross domestic product (GDP) series has now been found to be full of holes, raising fresh questions over the controversial and contested GDP numbers in Asia’s third-largest economy. A...

-The Hindu Business Line India’s Protection of Plant Varieties Act spells out rights of farmers vis-a-vis breeders, which resulted in a pushback for PepsiCo The Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Rights Act (PPVFRA), which introduced intellectual property protection in Indian agriculture, faced its biggest test in its implementation phase of nearly a decade and a half, when PepsiCo India initiated legal proceedings against four farmers in Gujarat for “illegally” growing...

-The Hindu The exclusion of migrants from the electoral process reveals the caste- and class-driven nature of mainstream politics While political commentators have been busy analysing voter preferences in the general election 2019, one segment, namely migrants, continues to be overlooked. The Election Commission of India (EC), on February 21, clarified that NRI voters cannot cast votes online, and that an NRI who holds an Indian passport can vote in his/her hometown after...

-The Indian Express Last week, the Congress had approached the EC with an allegation that the PMO had used the NITI Aayog to collect information in advance about places where Prime Minister Narendra Modi was set to campaign. New Delhi: The Election Commission of India (EC) has sought NITI Aayog’s comments on the Congress’s allegation that the government policy think-tank was misused by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) for election purposes. A...

-The Indian Express Amid the ongoing controversy that erupted with PepsiCo India’s lawsuits against 11 farmers for growing its patented potato variety, The Indian Express meets the affected farmers to find the genesis of the problem . Among the 11 farmers of Gujarat who have been slapped lawsuits by PepsiCo India for “illegally” growing its patented potato variety FL 2027, are Fulchand Kachchhawa and his brother Suresh of Malgadh village in...