-The Indian Express Government privileges the private over the public, preferring trade to health In a dramatic development, US industry groups recently claimed the Indian government offered them a “private” assurance that compulsory licences will not be issued, save in emergencies and for non-commercial purposes. Needless to state, such an assurance flies in the face of the Patents Act and the public health safeguards enshrined in it. Illustratively, Section 84 mandates that...

-The Indian Express In spite of attempts to dress it as one, Aadhaar bill is not a money bill. The issue of bills being categorised as money bills in an attempt to circumvent the Rajya Sabha has once again become live. On Friday, the Lok Sabha passed the Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and Other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Bill, 2016, which Finance Minister Arun Jaitley asserted was a money bill....

-The Hindu The steps taken towards social democracy are being reversed. What we have now are social insurance policies from above. This subverts the entire project of giving voice to the voiceless. India has paid a heavy price for failing to institutionalise social democracy It is generally agreed that theories of social democracy, in comparison to theories of formal political democracy, take cognisance of background inequalities that hamper the realisation of basic...

-The Hindu The question of whether or not the Aadhaar bill is a money bill continues to vex Parliament, with the Rajya Sabha’s Business Advisory Committee (BAC) meeting ending inconclusively after the Opposition demanded specific clauses of Article 110(1) of the Constitution that defines a Money Bill to be part of Speaker Sumitra Mahajan’s certification of it as such. Government sources, however, said they were determined to place the Bill as...

-The Hindu The Lawyers Collective has issued a clarification on March 10 on issues relating to allegations of violating the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 2010. Lawyers Collective (LC) has accused the government of making a “deliberate and sustained effort to target and vilify” the 35-year-old public trust and its chief functionaries, including former Additional Solicitor General Indira Jaising, by accusing them of violations under the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) (FCRA) Act, 2010. In a...