-The Hindu The government seems to have given up on the Give It Up Campaign for LPG cylinders and has begun debarring LPG users who earn more than Rs. 10 lakh a year from the subsidy starting from their next refill. “Since your income is above 10 lacs, LPG subsidy is not admissible as per govt directive. Pl submit a declaration to distributor if your income is below 10 lacs,” LPG distributors...

-Livemint.com The Union government has cut the prices of genetically-modified cotton seeds and slashed royalty fees by 74% The Union government’s decision to cut the prices of genetically-modified (GM) cotton seeds, popularly known as Bt cotton, and slash royalty fees, will have a positive impact on cotton farming in Maharashtra, India’s top state in terms of area under cotton cultivation. The Maharashtra government’s agriculture officials, cotton growers and officials at the Nagpur-based...

-The Hindu The Aadhaar Bill opens the door to mass surveillance. This danger needs to be seen in the light of recent attacks on the right to dissent. No other country, and certainly no democratic country, has ever held its own citizens hostage to such a powerful infrastructure of surveillance. The Aadhaar project was sold to the public based on the claim that enrolment was “voluntary”. This basically meant that there was...

-The Hindu Business Line In 2015, vegetable, milk and cereal inflation was higher than all-India average   While food prices rose at a slower pace across India in 2015, the poor in the South and certain other parts of the country saw no respite and had to continue spending more for a decent meal. Manipur, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu and Jammu & Kashmir faced higher food inflation in 2015 compared with 2014,...

-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...