-Economic and Political Weekly A number of state agencies and non-governmental organisations have come forward to facilitate farmers/breeders to register their crop varieties and obtain plant variety certifi cates. But can these agencies bring forth a change in the mindset of the small farmers and seed savers' groups who view the current intellectual property regime with scepticism and continue to keep away from it? Shalini Bhutani (shalinibhutani@hotmail.com) is a legal researcher and...
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You were wrong, My Lords -Avijit Chatterjee
-The Telegraph The debate around Yakub Memon’s hanging highlights the many cases of people who were hanged but who should have lived. Indeed, the Supreme Court admitted in 2009 that it had wrongly sentenced 15 people to death in 15 years. Avijit Chatterjee looks at some cases It was a mistake, the Supreme Court later said. But by then it was too late. Ravji Rao, or Ram Chandra, had been hanged to...
More »The Public Education System and What the Costs Imply -Kiran Bhatty, Anuradha De, and Rathin Roy
-Economic and Political Weekly There are basic methodological and conceptual problems with recent research that ends up arguing that private school education is more effective than public education. Such findings have obvious policy implications but it is critical that research that informs policy is based on a correct reading of facts, keeping the larger vision of education in mind. Recent research into the cost effectiveness of public education vis-à-vis private education concludes...
More »‘India a source, destination, transit country for trafficking’ -Narayan Lakshman
-The Hindu The US Trafficking in Persons report for 2015 said official complicity remained a “serious concern” Unveiling a closely-watched annual anti-trafficking report this week the U.S. State Department retained India’s classification as a “Tier II” nation for human trafficking concerns, which implied that the U.S. viewed India as a country that whose government did not fully comply with its Trafficking Victims’ Protection Act’s (TVPA) minimum standards, but was making significant efforts...
More »India's deadly roads likely to figure in PM's Mann ki Baat on Sunday -Dipak K Dash
-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Taking note of high number of deaths on Indian roads — over 1.41 lakh in 2014 — Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to talk about road safety issues in his next Mann ki Baat programme on Sunday. This is for the first time that the country's highest political executive would take up the issue; something that countries like France, United Kingdom, Denmark and Sweden...
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