-The Hindu While the economy’s revival is still a work in progress, higher food prices, especially of pulses, are affecting nutritional intake across India. The government is counting on a good monsoon season to spur growth and cool down the prices of essential food items. Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das said on Thursday that the government’s move to raise the minimum support price for pulses is expected to help push up...

-Business Standard Integrates climate change concerns and promotes private investment and role in forestry The NDA government has made public its draft National Forest Policy to replace the one that was crafted in 1988. Incorporating consequences of climate change but entirely ignoring one of the three forest related laws, the Forest Rights Act, the policy brings new focus to plantations, growing trees outside the forest lands  and wood industry. While the policy continues...

-Scroll.in Land leasing laws are negatively impacting the people they are supposed to benefit, pulling agricultural productivity down, and increasing land degradation. Nearly one-third of India is reeling under drought, evident from reports and images of distressed farmers and parched land captured in the media. The increasing unpredictability of rainfall and prolonged hot patches has severely impacted rural farmland and, consequently, the people dependent on agriculture. Drought and resultant crop loss, in...

-TheWire.in To improve the lives of farmers and ensure development, stakeholder consultation must be a priority, not simply more intellectual property rights. India had already made a significant policy shift towards a pro-intellectual property (IP) position in the seed sector two decades ago, when it became a member of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in 1995. Many existing laws were amended, including three amendments to the Patent Act of 1970, which allow...

-TheWire.in The new policy is clearly informed by conservative pro-IP ideology, which big capital promotes in order to gain from current developments in science and technology. The National Intellectual Property Rights policy was approved by the cabinet on May 12, 2016 and released to the press a day later by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. It is a “first of its kind” policy for India, covering all forms of intellectual property together in a...