-PTI NEW DELHI: As India is set to defer its April 1 deadline for increasing size of pictoral warnings on tobacco products after pressure from various lobbies, head of a parliamentary panel on Monday said there was no Indian study to confirm that use of tobacco products leads to cancer. Dilip Gandhi, head of parliamentary panel on subordinate legislation examining the provisions of Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act, 2003 which had...

-The Times of India MUMBAI: In a landmark judgment, the Bombay high court has paved the way for the state to pay higher compensation to farmers whose land it acquires for public projects. The court held that financial constraints or project cost escalations cannot be a reason to shortchange farmers and set aside a government decision to fix a multiplier factor of 1.1 on market rates even though the law says...

-Economic and Political Weekly While the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers' Rights Act 2001 is a progressive piece of legislation that recognises farmers' rights to seed, it demands payment of an annual maintenance fee by the farmers to protect the varieties which they have been cultivating and conserving for years, only because these varieties have been brought under legal protection through national legislation. Parameswaran Prajeesh (prajeesh@mssrf.res.in) is a researcher with the...

-The Hindu For any skill development effort to succeed, markets and industry need to play a large role in determining courses, curriculum and relevance The Union Budget 2015 paved way for the launch of a much-awaited National Skills Mission to complement Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ‘Skill India' and ‘Make in India' exhortations. However, much work needs to be done on the ground for the government to prove that this step is a...

-The Hindu "No person should be denied any benefits or "suffer" for not having the Aadhaar cards issued by Unique Identification Authority of India." Clearing all doubts about the validity of Aadhaar card to avail of government subsidies, the Supreme Court on Monday confirmed that the Aadhar card is not compulsory, and further, officials who insist on them will be taken to task. A fuming Supreme Court issued a stern warning to the...