-The Hindu   The paid news case is no longer just about Ashok Chavan. It concerns every individual and institution opposed to the sway of money power in elections Politicians everywhere are known to indulge in doublespeak and our politicians are no exception. But some recent pronouncements of our Law Minister only show that our politicians may have very few serious rivals in this sport. Not long ago, the Minister was all praise...

-The Times of India LUCKNOW: The Prime Minister's Office (PMO) has denied to provide information on Robert Vadra writ petition filed in the Allahabad high court. The public information officer (PIO) of the PMO denied providing notesheet of the case-related file to the petitioner and social activist Nutan Thakur saying that the matter was sub-judice. To this Thakur, wrote to the first appellate authority (FAO) saying that the RTI Act nowhere prohibits...

-Outlook India has long been the sleeping giant of global agriculture. But its misguided policies while boosting short-term output, yet may transform India into a food importer After decades on the sidelines of international agricultural trade, India was poised last year to become a major food supplier, overtaking traditional exporters of food grain and meat. This could prove to be flash in the pan. The sudden rise and fall of India...

-The Hindu     Drug patents are designed to create profits that enable more research on diseases affecting millions. But in practice, they have often generated super profits for big pharma companies while erecting access barriers for the poor. The Novartis case spotlights much that is wrong with the system. The rejection of the Novartis petition challenging one of the most progressive tenets of the Indian Patents Act (1970), as amended in 2005 by...

-Bloomberg The corpse of Indian farmer Bengali Singh burned to ash atop a blazing funeral pyre on the banks of the river Ganges in 2006. Five years later, the dead man was recorded as being paid by India's $33 billion rural jobs program to dig an irrigation canal in Jharkhand state. Officials in his village and the surrounding region used at least 500 identities, including those of Singh, a disabled child of...