-Economic and Political Weekly While the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers' Rights Act 2001 is a progressive piece of legislation that recognises farmers' rights to seed, it demands payment of an annual maintenance fee by the farmers to protect the varieties which they have been cultivating and conserving for years, only because these varieties have been brought under legal protection through national legislation. Parameswaran Prajeesh (prajeesh@mssrf.res.in) is a researcher with the...

-The Hindu How much and what people eat and what work they do differs significantly by caste, new data from the National Sample Survey Office show. However, these differences are likely to be correlated, rather than caused by caste. The NSSO released two new reports this week: one on household consumption expenditure by a social group and the other on employment and unemployment by a social group. The data show that...

-BBC A controversial bill on land acquisition has caused uproar in India, with opponents saying it will hurt the interests of farmers. The bill eases rules for acquiring land for specific projects. The government says it is aimed at kick-starting stalled projects across the country worth billions of dollars. Sanjoy Chakravorty, author of a book on conflicts over land in India, explains the issues. Why is land so important in India? Land is...

-PTI NEW DELHI: Cracking down on erring NGOs, government has cancelled licences of 1,142 NGOs belonging to undivided Andhra Pradesh, under which they get foreign funds, for not filing their annual returns for three consecutive years. The foreigners division of the home ministry has served notices to NGOs on October 16, 2014 for not filing their returns for 2009-10, 2010-11 and 2011-12 under the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act and given time to...

-The Indian Express Given indicators that the government is considering moving to cash transfers and replacing the public distribution system (PDS), and the release of the Shanta Kumar Committee report, the debate on how best to provide food security has been rekindled. The report has a careful analysis of the sources of inefficiency at various stages of the procurement, storage and distribution system. Especially heartening is the admission that the Food...