-The Hindu The policy fails to acknowledge that IP is a market-driven model’ India’s National Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) policy, unveiled on Friday, could pose a “serious” hurdle to allowing access to affordable drugs and the South Asian nation missed a chance to put in place a progressive policy, according to experts. The policy left the country’s patent laws intact and specifically did not open up Section 3(d) of the Patents Act, which...

-Press Release from Campaign for Judicial Accountability and Reforms The recent joint conference of Chief Ministers and Chief Justices of High Courts and the Supreme Court of India, concluded with an anguished appeal from the Chief Justice of India for far greater government participation in ensuring urgent judicial reforms, especially in addressing the vast shortage of judges. The Chief Justice of India’s speech also revealed that the efficient functioning of the...

-The Indian Express The data for 10 drought-hit states show that a total of 1.52 crore people got employment under MGNREGA in the financial year ending March 31, 2015. For states hit with severe drought, the latest decision of the Ministry of Rural Development to continue providing 150 days of employment under MGNREGA may come as a much-needed succour. However, data shows that in 2015-16 of the households that were provided...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: Projected work under the rural job guarantee scheme for 2016-17 is down 10 per cent after a rare boost in the last financial year, suggesting a tightening of the purse strings following a year of heavy expenditure on the programme. The rural development ministry has approved the generation of 217 crore person-days of work under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, following last year's approval for...

-Business Standard Await go-ahead signal from ministry of agriculture for their use Mumbai: Private insurance companies are using drones to photograph farms and if permitted by the agriculture ministry these could provide data to calculate crop yield. Insurers are using unmanned aerial vehicles as a pilot scheme. The agriculture ministry has called for use of such modern technology for the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY). Drones have not gained widespread commercial use, as...