-The Financial Express In a bid to curb pilferage of foodgrains in the Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS), the Centre on Saturday asked the states to opt for Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) under which the subsidy component is credited to bank accounts and allows the beneficiaries to buy foodgrains from the market. However, for implementing DBT, the states must complete digitisation of beneficiary list and seed bank account details for fund transfer....

-The Hindu Business Line Retains Section 3(d), which checks ‘evergreening’, despite US pressure New Delhi: The national Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) policy approved by the Union Cabinet has proposed tax breaks to promote research and development, a loan guarantee scheme to cover risk of failure of IPRs, and a dedicated cell to promote the creation and commercialisation of IP assets. The policy also suggests the establishment of a mechanism for implementation, monitoring and...

-The Hindu Business Line The recently launched e-NAM (National Agriculture Market) is targeted to be rolled out in 200 mandis across the nation on September 30, 2016. In recent years, the country has seen rising efforts by the government and private companies to unify agricultural markets. It is expected that participants across the nation will trade on the e-NAM platform and that the prices of agricultural produce will be determined based on...

-The Hindu The human rights of prisoners in death row are grossly violated, shows Death Penalty India Report “I left my sleeping child at home because the police called me to sign documents. I never got home after that,” said Akira. She is among the 136 prisoners on death row who claimed to have not been informed of the reason for their arrest, a constitutional right. To prepare the Death Penalty India Report,...

-The Hindu Rather than criminalising bribegivers, the objective of combating coercive corruption would be achieved if the government puts in place a grievance redress mechanism The Prevention of Corruption Act (PCA), the key legislation which defines what constitutes corruption and prescribes penalties for corruption-related offences, is set to be amended by Parliament. The proposed Bill, now before a select committee of the Rajya Sabha, includes several contentious amendments that are likely to...