-Down to Earth Tough new conditions eMerge in the compromise deal to ease WTO intellectual property barriers to production of COVID-19 medical tools We are back to square one. Back to the beginning after 18 months of a wearying, tortuous series of negotiations that carried on while millions of lives hung in the balance — and still do. The waiver of intellectual property (IP) rights on medicines, vaccines and diagnostics to fight the...

-TheCitizen.in Eight years on GANGNAULI: On the banks of the Krishna river, in the Baghpat district of Uttar Pradesh, toxic chemicals discharged by nearby industrial units have turned the drinking water of villages around the river poisonous. This toxic river might be the reason for life threatening diseases like cancer, hepatitis, paralysis, mental illness and congenital bone deformities prevalent among people here. Back in 2014, forMer Haryana Pollution Control Board scientist Dr Chandraveer...

-Business Standard CUET has Merit but pitfalls too The University Grants Commission has taken a broadly sensible decision to hold a mandatory Common University Entrance Test (CUET) for undergraduate admission to all 45 centrally funded universities from the upcoming academic year. This means Class XII board exam marks will be superseded for determining university admission in favour of an all-India exam on the lines of the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) for admission to...

-The Wire Science * Many regions in India, including the north and the centre, are currently reporting hotter weather thanks to heat waves. * The IMD has forecast ‘severe’ heat wave conditions for the next three days over parts of Rajasthan. Heat waves will also prevail over areas of Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat and Telangana. * According to the government, the IMD’s predictive power to forecast heatwaves has increased significantly over the years. Kochi: Many...

-The Hindu ‘It should portray culture and society’ The Parliamentary Committee on Home Affairs has said that the coming census exercise “should not Merely be data-oriented; rather it should portray the perspective of culture and society.” Members of the panel felt that since the current census has not commenced yet, an effort should be made on the part of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) through the Registrar General of India (RGI) to...