-The Economic Times The government is reviewing the norms for keeping buffer stocks of wheat and rice required at a particular time of the year to feed the public distribution system and welfare schemes. The demand for wheat and rice distributed through welfare schemes is expected to rise with the implementation of the food security law. "The government is looking at the issue and we are discussing it with different departments," KV Thomas,...

-The Hindu     A computerised database of ration card holders and purchases is a safeguard against diversion of PDS supplies but the process can be disruptive for beneficiaries The government has initiated an interesting pilot for the Public Distribution System (PDS) in East Godavari, Andhra Pradesh. When cardholders go to buy their PDS rations, their ration card number and UID (Unique Identification) number are punched into an "e-Point of Sale" (ePOS) machine. If...

-The Indian Express Quoting from a speech of former BRItish prime minister Tony Blair who compared the media to a “feral beast”, the Delhi High Court on Tuesday recommended the Centre to put in place a “statutory regulatory body” for controlling the electronic media. A bench led by Justice Pradeep Nandarajog rejected the idea of “self-regulation” by the broadcasters, underlining that the absence of state intervention on its own was no guarantee...

-Frontline The Land Acquisition Bill runs into a roadblock as political parties fail to reach an agreement on the substantive features of the draft Bill or on the amendments proposed. The efforts of the United Progressive Alliance government to broker a consensus on the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill, 2012, which has been pending for over a year, have not paid off not because...

-The Times of India Big pharma may be crying hoarse over India's "weak'' intellectual property environment, but over the past five years or so, they have introduced only a handful of their patented blockbusters in the country. That's not all. The contribution of patented drugs in the Rs 72,000-crore pharma retail market is not even 1%, indicating that multinationals have been traditionally slow and have a poor track record in introducing...