-The Hindu People’s objections, from Chhattisgarh to Odisha, against large development projects have brought out the real power of the Forest Rights Act of 2006. Democracy is alive and kicking in India. No, I am not referring to the Assembly elections. It is unfortunate that the term democracy has been reduced to the drama of periodic elections and the subsequent reliance of the electorate on politicians and bureaucrats. When these powerful few...

-The Hindu Intellectual property accelerates innovation in certain technology sectors, but it impedes innovation in others. The biggest flaw of the new policy is that it does not acknowledge this. Intellectual property (IP) regimes suffer a classic paradox. While they attempt to encourage innovation and creativity, they have themselves been shielded from innovation experimentation. For some years now, India has been attempting to break this mould and craft a regime to suit...

-Orissa Post New Delhi: The Centre has extend mid-day meals (MDM) to schoolchildren in 27 drought-hit districts of Orissa during summer vacation.   The noon meal programme will be implemented in 27 districts of Orissa along with 201 districts of nine other states across the country. The Centre shall pay Rs. 468.89 crore for the MDM scheme and the remaining amount will be funded by the state governments. The Central move is expected...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: The Centre today urged the Supreme Court to dismiss Congress Rajya Sabha member Jairam Ramesh's petition challenging the Aadhaar law, contending that an act passed by Parliament was immune from judicial challenge. "The fact is that the law has been passed as a money bill and the Speaker has confirmed it. It is immune from any judicial challenge," attorney-general Mukul Rohatgi told a bench headed by Chief Justice...

-The Hindu Business Line While kharif crops will be affected, rabi crops have assured irrigation Depleted reservoirs and parched lands await the onset of the south-west monsoon. The water level in key reservoirs across the country is fast receding, going by data from the Central Water Commission (CWC). The storage levels in 91 reservoirs have dropped from 95.693 bcm (billion cubic metres) in September to 72 bcm in December and are now...