-The Hindu Business Line Draft guidelines coming soon for comments from stakeholders New Delhi: With the debate on genetically modified (GM) crops getting intense, the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) is considering the option of putting in place guidelines for socio-economic assessment to judge proposed GM varieties on the basis of factors such as economy, health, environment, society and culture. “Guidelines on socio-economic considerations will make it easier for the Genetic Engineering...

-Hindustan Times A week after the ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) put out a document on its website titled ‘National Forest policy, 2016 (Draft): Empowered Communities, Healthy Ecosystems, Happy Nation’, a senior ministry official last week said the document is only a “study” done by Indian Institute of Forest Management (IIFM), Bhopal, and not a draft policy. The preface to the document, however, said it had been prepared “based on...

-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...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: A draft education policy has suggested that the curriculum be drawn up with the objective of making every student feel proud of being Indian, a source told The Telegraph today. The content of every subject, particularly in school, should be designed weaving in values like righteousness, truth and the students' responsibility to themselves and the country, the source said, summarising recommendations submitted to the Union human resource development...

-The Hindu Intellectual property accelerates innovation in certain technology sectors, but it impedes innovation in others. The biggest flaw of the new policy is that it does not acknowledge this. Intellectual property (IP) regimes suffer a classic paradox. While they attempt to encourage innovation and creativity, they have themselves been shielded from innovation experimentation. For some years now, India has been attempting to break this mould and craft a regime to suit...