-The Hindu Business Line India is being too accommodating of MNCs The Centre is needlessly apologetic about our IPR laws. It set up an IPR ‘think tank’ in October 2014, perhaps responding to a view that our IPRs are not strong enough to invite foreign investment. Last January, Prime Minister Modi and President Obama issued a joint statement which “committed to establish an annual high-level Intellectual Property Working Group”. In November, Modi...

-The Hindu Business Line The mythology of free trade being a force for economic progress remains entrenched in world politics Globalisation has created a unique spectator sport, where political dignitaries periodically gather at carefully chosen venues for days of deliberation over humanity’s most consequential problems. It is a spectacle at which ‘civil society’ — as the new force in world politics is called — is granted a tent of its own, financed...

-The Times of India MYSORE: With the Centre taking multiple measures to fulfill its clean Ganga mission, the country's premier atomic research body - Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) - has offered membrane-based water treatment system to clean the national river. The department of atomic energy (DAE) in its presentation on Monday at the Indian Science Congress gave details of the system, describing how BARC is already providing technical support to the...

-Hindustan Times New Delhi: The Supreme Court said on Tuesday a ban on the sale and registration of diesel vehicles with engine capacities of 2,000 cc and above in the national capital region will continue as it heard a plea by automobile manufacturers seeking a modification of its order. Senior advocates Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Kapil Sibal and Gopal Subramaniam were representing Mahindra and Mahindra, Mercedes and Toyota seeking modification of its December...

-The Indian Express The farmers are under severe stress, with profitability in farming falling alarmingly. FY17 budget must boldly address the agriculture crisis. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and his team are beginning pre-budget consultations with various stakeholders for the upcoming FY17 budget. Generally, the consultations start with agriculture, slated for January 4. It’s good practice and courteous to invite farm experts and farmers’ representatives. Often, one finds these meetings full of anguish...