-The Hindu The Modi government must stop engaging U.S. bureaucrats as patent consultants and instead showcase the Indian patent statute as an exemplar for a balanced regime Earlier this month, the media reported that India “privately” assured the United States that it will not issue any more compulsory licenses. This report was reminiscent of a theory propounded by psychologist Lenore E. Walker in 1979 on abusive patterns in relationships. Four stages of abuse Walker...

-Hindustan Times The government should pay 25% of wages of MGNREGA workers employed in individual farms and the poor should get an option to choose between money or subsidised food grains under the public distribution system (PDS). These are a few suggestions to be made by the National Institution for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog in the occasional paper that will be discussed with the States for framing a national policy to eliminate...

-The Financial Express Govt may spend major chunk of Budget outlay in these States The Modi government would spend major portion of the Rs 2,000- crore Budget outlay for providing LPG to households below poverty line in the eastern States such as Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Odisha and Assam. A senior official in the finance ministry told FE that the nodal petroleum ministry has proposed a detailed road map for the scheme aimed...

-The Hindu The Election Commission met representatives from national and regional parties on Saturday. The Election Commission met representatives from national and regional parties here on Saturday to discuss a range of issues ranging from the need to maintain a high level of conduct in election speeches to that of protecting the secrecy of how votes are cast at a particular booth. “Hate speeches” and personalised attacks in poll campaigns came up for...

-PTI Farmers warned of fungal disease stripe rust or yellow rust attack on crop because of conducive weather conditions Chandigarh: Untimely rains accompanied by hailstorm and strong winds in Punjab and Haryana will hit wheat crop which was to be harvested next month, feared farm experts, saying showers at this stage were “unfortunate” for growers who were hoping for bumper yield. “Rains along with strong winds at this point of time are not...