-The Indian Express The era of globalised markets is also an era of globalised sovereignties. Nation states must constantly sync their policies with global constituencies of policies and citizens. At times, domestic disharmony is the price nation states may be required and willing to pay. The case in point here is the proposed review of the intellectual property rights (IPR) policy, particularly those clauses that are related to pharmaceutical patent policy....

-Kafila.org Dear Prime Minister Modi ji, We, the undersigned, wish to share with you some of our concerns on India's position on intellectual property (IP), particularly in the context of bilateral relations between the United States of AMerica and India. We gather from the US-India Joint Statement dated 30 September 2014 that the Indian Government (a)greeing on the need to foster innovation in a manner that promotes economic growth...

-Governance Now Government surrendering assets to private players in educational field, alleges national RTE forum; plans to start nationwide campaign for last 150 days till final deadline for implementation of RTE Act on March 31, 2015 About 1 lakh schools have been closed down across the country since the enactment of the Right to Education (RTE) Act in April 2010, according to data compiled by a civil society organisation tracking the...

-The Telegraph The National Democratic Alliance government is planning to scrap the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act. The chief minister of Rajasthan, Vasundhara Raje, had already asked for the employment programme of the MGNREGA under which the state was obliged to provide employment on demand (failing which an unemployment allowance of a specified amount had to be paid), to be downgraded to a Mere "food-for-work" programme, where the state...

-Hard News Floods in Kashmir could have been managed better if there was a reliable early warning system The first fortnight of September saw Jammu and Kashmir being ravaged by severe flash floods. But, according to the snatches of news we got, the monsoon was below average in the state until the last week of August. Thereafter, four days of incessant rain in the Valley and in Jammu made almost all the...