-The Hindu ‘It didn’t go well with India’s IPR policy’ New Delhi: The former Deputy Chairman of the erstwhile Planning Commission, Montek Singh Ahluwalia criticised an Agriculture Ministry order earlier this year to cap the royalty and sale price of cotton seed. The Ministry, in March, used its powers under the Essential Commodities Act — a legislation that allows the government to determine the price of commodities including seed — to declare that...

-Hindustan Times Drinking water shortages are known to spark scuffles , but last week, it led to Sunil Giri, 23, losing his life. Giri was beaten to death in the Ramgarh district of Jharkhand for objecting to his neighbour Anwar Hussain taking more than his share from a drinking-water tanker that had reached the drought-affected village after several days. Similar violence over water sharing has also been reported from water-scarce districts in...

-The Hindu ‘Southwest monsoon will set in over Kerala in next 3 or 4 days’ Even while maintaining that the torrential rain in Kerala was pre-monsoon showers, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Thursday said in an update to its April monsoon forecast that rainfall would be 6% above the 50-year average of 89 cm. Rains over north-west India would be 8% more; over Central and South India 13% more and over north-east...

-The Tribune A confession by IMF economists in the flagship magazine stating that the kind of growth promoted by neoliberalism promotes inequality has created a buzz. Once in a while, something unexpected happens so stunningly that one finds it unbelievable in the first instance. A group of three economists in IMF's research department has written a joint paper criticising some key aspects of IMF's creed of neo-liberalism. It appears as unbelievable as...

-The Indian Express Mining has the distinction of being the most dangerous profession in India. Industry insiders concede that official numbers could be much lower than the actual deaths that take place deep inside the mines. Progressive improvements in the safety standard of India’s coal mines notwithstanding, every ten days last year there was a mining fatality in the country. And every third day last year, on an average, there was...