-The Hindu Negotiations are at a “critical and sensitive” stage in Geneva, say sources India runs the risk of being excluded from a proposal it co-authored at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) negotiations, in 2020, to “temporarily waive” intellectual property rights (IPR) held, by primarily Western countries, on vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics for covid-19. Geneva Health Files, a Switzerland-based newsletter portal that tracks developments in intellectual property, first reported on Friday that “a...

-TheWire.in A bench comprising Justices M.R. Shah and B.V. Nagarathna said that state governments cannot say that fraudulent claims are being made by families of COVID-19 victims. New Delhi: The Supreme Court highlighted that official statistics on COVID-19 deaths, released by states, were “not true” and directed state governments to pay compensation to relatives of deceased people who have applied without rejecting the claims on technical grounds. “Official statistics are not true on...

-Newsclick.in Speaking to NewsClick in a telephone interview on Friday, the Rajya Sabha leader lamented that the Centre has “not accepted even a single recommeNDAtion” that was made to it by Standing Committee on Labour in its different reports over the Labour Codes. New Delhi: Communist Party of India (Marxist) Rajya Sabha MP Elamaram Kareem on Friday introduced a Private Member’s Bill that seeks to repeal the contentious four Labour Codes which...

-TheWire.in What you lose on the wings, you gain on the rouNDAbouts.  With no other major growth investments or policy reforms in the budget, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman made capital investment the lynchpin of the government’s growth strategy in Budget 2022. Stressing that “the virtuous cycle of investment requires public investment to crowd-in private investment” she took high moral ground to say that the “public investment must continue to take the lead and...

-Centre for Science and Environment * Releases new report that presents irrefutable evidence of the benefits of non-chemical agriculture * Yesterday’s Budget promises to promote chemical-free natural farming, but it is a half-hearted promise at best, as no separate allocation has been made in it, says CSE * CSE’s asks: Invest in organic and natural farming. Make it a mass movement New Delhi, February 2, 2022: “Despite the push given to it through periodic...