-TheWire.in * The proposed Biological Diversity (Amendment) Bill 2021 encourages a conducive environment for investments and to simplify the patent application process. * Farmers in India have historically been against any kind of IP rights – whether patents or plant variety protection over seed and planting materials. * In a confused mix of laws, the government also grants IP rights to BMCs for farmers’ varieties – formed under the Biological Diversity Act –...

-NDTV.com Supreme Court Sedition Hearing: On Monday, two days after firmly defending the sedition law and asking the Supreme Court to dismiss challenges to it, the government said it had decided to review the legislation. New Delhi: The Supreme Court today asked the government to reply by tomorrow on whether the sedition law can be paused and people charged under it can be protected while the colonial-era law is being reviewed. A...

-TheWire.in The survey found that 83% of 636,699 households sampled had access to toilets, with greater accessibility in urban areas than in rural areas. New Delhi: Nearly one in five households in India practise open defecation, according to a health ministry report released on May 5, nearly two years after the Union government declared the country ‘open defecation free’. The report is part of the fifth edition of the National Family Health Survey...

-The Hindu Classes 1-5 to benefit; this is among 5 schemes announced Chennai: On the occasion of the DMK government of Chief Minister M. K. Stalin stepping into its second year on Saturday, the State was richer by five new development schemes. Mr. Stalin made the announcements in the Assembly. The schemes are a free morning breakfast scheme for government school students, a scheme to eradicate nutrition deficiency, establishment of schools of excellence...

-NDTV.com "A constitutional bench has already examined all aspects of sedition law in context of fundamental rights," the Centre said in its statement.  New Delhi: The Centre today defended the sedition law and asked the Supreme Court to dismiss the pleas challenging it. The court is hearing a batch of pleas challenging the constitutional validity of the colonial-era law. In a written submission, the Centre told the three-judge bench, led by Chief Justice...