-Livemint.com A section of the BJP’s own supporters, and its vocal middle class base appears opposed to the controversial farm Laws In 2015, the first Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) central government unveiled an ambitious reform to overhaul India’s land acquisition Laws that would have enabled corporations easier access to land across the country. But faced with intense protests from Opposition parties, the changes were rolled back. In 2020, the second Modi-led...

-The Indian Express A waiver on IP protections would mean pharmaceutical firms and vaccine makers across the world can learn how to make these vaccines without fear of Lawsuits from companies that originally developed them. In a move that could potentially help increase production of Covid-19 vaccines around the world, the United States on Wednesday announced its support for waiving intellectual property (IP) protections for these vaccines. Subsequently, the European Union (EU) agreed...

-Newsclick.in The deeper rot in agriculture can be overcome through more far-reaching reforms, starting from an overhaul of pre-capitalist land relations and relations of production that continue to shackle productivity and are at the root of aggravating poverty, unemployment and inequality in rural India. It has been more than five months since farmers from different parts of the country began protesting in Delhi. They have been unflinching when it comes to their...

-Hindustan Times HT learns that the meeting, attended by several secretaries of the government, saw the minister emphasising the need to focus on positive news. Around 300 top officials of the central government participated in a workshop titled Effective Communications, conducted by Abhishek Singh, the CEO of MyGov, a government platform for citizen engagement, aimed at helping them “create a positive image of the government”, manage “perception through effectively highlighting positive stories...

-The Hindu Over the last few decades, intellectual property rules have served as a lethal barrier to the right to access healthcare Even an unprecedented pandemic can do little, it appears, to upset the existing global regime governing monopoly rights over the production and distribution of life-saving drugs. If anything, since the onset of COVID-19, we’ve only seen a reaffirmation of intellectual property rules that have served as a lethal barrier to...