-The Business Standard Overall GDP growth, farm growth has more impact on increasing real farm wages than MGNREGS Even as the United Progressive Alliance government is touting the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) as its biggest step for the uplift of the rural poor, a discussion paper floated by the Commission for Agricultural Costs and prices (CACP) suggests compared to this scheme, growth in overall gross domestic product, agriculture...

-The Hindu The UPA government has been proactive in responding to demands by Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) for a raise in natural gas prices, but has shown little urgency in implementing the Comptroller and Auditor General's (CAGs) recommendations made in 2009 on the audit of oil and gas contractors such as RIL. The CAG recommendation would have facilitated the intense scrutiny of the prices and profits made by the contractors. The Petroleum Ministry's...

-The Indian Express The proposed land bill will make transactions fairer and encourage optimal use of the resource In this session, Parliament will take up the necessary and long-delayed Land Acquisition, Resettlement and Rehabilitation Bill. Both major parties have worked out a consensus on the features of the bill. As with any compromise between different interest groups, the bill does not please everyone perfectly, but it finally sets down reasonable terms for...

-Frontline   The Supreme Court's ruling against Novartis' patent claim for the cancer drug Glivec paves the way for generic drug companies to keep crucial, life-saving drugs affordable to the common people. By V. VENKATESAN IN their 112-page judgment delivered on April 1, Justice Aftab Alam and Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai of the Supreme Court began with a simple proposition: in order to understand what the law really is, it is essential to...

-The Hindu   50 Bodhan villages in pilot project YEDAPALLY (NIZAMABAD DT.): Efforts are on to supply safe and purified drinking water at the rate of 20 paise per litre to every household in over 50 villages in Bodhan Assembly constituency. If this pilot project being undertaken at a cost of Rs. 3-4 lakh for each unit is successful, it will be extended to other villages in course of time. Disclosing this at an...