-The Hindu The Warsaw negotiations have delivered empty new shells in the name of finance and technology to the developing world and repackaged existing financial commitments towards the poor countries in a green-coloured envelope The Warsaw negotiations delivered little on climate change issues but the fortnight served as a warning about the perilous task that lies before countries to produce a global compact by 2015 which matches expectations. The developed countries reached Warsaw...

-The Hindu     To be able to deliver appropriate legal services to the rural and tribal communities, we need an alternative delivery system with a different model of legal service providers Delivery of legal services to the rich and the corporate class is organised not through individual lawyers but through a series of networked law firms. These firms employ hundreds of lawyers and domain experts all over the country to provide highly specialised...

-IPS   Food security activists who secured a moratorium on introducing genetically modified brinjal (aubergine) into India fear that their efforts are being undermined by the release of GM brinjal in neighbouring Bangladesh. "India and Bangladesh share a long and porous border and it is easy for GM brinjal varieties to be brought over," says Suman Sahai, director of Gene Campaign, a Delhi-based research and advocacy group devoted to the conservation of...

-The Indian Express Government must step up private sector involvement in agricultural research. Why Bharat Ratna awardee C.N.R. Rao called the acts of politicians "idiotic" is for him to elaborate. Perhaps he was referring to those advocating a ban on GM research in India. After all, Rao has vehemently urged a five-fold increase in funding for research and development in agriculture. That includes research on GM crops. On the food front, we have...

-Economic and Political Weekly There is overwhelming evidence to show that capital-intensive metro rail systems serve only a small proportion of the total trips in cities in developing countries such as India. Public-private partnerships have not been very successful, and the Delhi Metro, which is considered to be the most successful project despite falling far short of its projected number of users, enjoys numerous tax benefits not offered to the bus...