-The Hindu The issue of easing the costs of intellectual property resources on clean technologies takes centre stage For the developed countries it was a devil buried at the climate negotiations last year at Doha. At the Warsaw talks, the developing countries, including India, resuscitated the devil - easing the costs of intellectual property rights (IPR) on clean technologies - back to life, by demanding that a funding mechanism be set up...

-The Hindu     While it is apparent that due process has been subverted to the advantage of a few by the political executive, it is equally true that there has been some politicisation of the civil service Two recent events have focussed attention on the relationship between the political executive and public servants. At the international conference on corruption organised by the Central Bureau of Investigation on November 11, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh...

-The Indian Express All emergency cardiology procedures at AIIMS will now be performed free of cost for patients in general wards. Emergency surgeries such as angioplasty (surgical widening of clogged vessels in the heart using tubes called stents), balloon angioplasty (insertion of a surgical balloon to open obstructed vessels), opening of blocked heart valves and insertion of pacemakers (battery operated devices to improve heart rates) will now all become free, the hospital...

-Live Mint In the past year, ration cards are being replaced with smartcards that can track food doled out through the PDS system New Delhi: Mohanlal Kapoor, a street vendor in north India, holds a card entitling him to subsidized food for his wife and four children. To get supplies, the Kapoors must battle an estimated 15 million families in their state toting similar pieces of paper that they're not entitled...

-Economic and Political Weekly This paper, in two parts, reports an evaluation of existing in-kind food Transfers. Part I outlines the dimensions involved, in terms of reach, Transfer content and physical leakages, and deals with the impact of these Transfers on poverty as officially measured. Part II reports the impact of these Transfers on calorie intakes and also discusses some issues regarding the financial cost of these Transfers. Contrary to the...