Govt. introduces bill on patents in the Lok Sabha
New Delhi: The government has introduced the controversial Patents Bill in the Lok Sabha, amidst vehement opposition from Left parties and the NDA. It was piloted by Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath.

The bill seeks to replace an ordinance issued on December 26 to meet WTO obligations of allowing product patents in pharmaceuticals, agri-products and embedded software.

The Bill was introduced by a voice vote amid noisy protests from opposition benches and Left party members who contended that the House has no legislative competence to pass this bill, which threatened fundamental right to life of people.
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G-20 meet: India seeks cut off date on agricultural subsidies
New Delhi: A grouping of the world's developing countries, the G-20, began meeting in New Delhi today with the key focus on getting developed nations to work for a level playing field in world trade.

On the sidelines of the meeting, Pakistan also said that it is willing to work with India on New Delhi's demand for the Most Favoured Nation status. It's the first time that India is hosting the G-20 summit of the commerce and trade ministers of the economic powers among developing countries.

The G-20 wants greater access to the markets of the developed world for their agricultural products. They want developed coutnries to stop giving export subsidies to their farmers and to also cut down on subsidies given to the farm sector within a defined time period.

It's a crucial meeting of the G-20 ahead of the Hong Kong ministerial meet of the WTO, as it should enable the diverse group of developing nations to come up with a common negotiating stand against the developed world.
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IMF praises UPA govt.'s reform agenda
New Delhi: International Monetary Fund chief Rodrigo de Rato has lauded the UPA Government's reforms agenda saying that they would result in India attracting more investments, both domestic and foreign.

"This is a good moment for the Indian economy not only because of the past performance or this year's performance, but because the future has great opportunities not only for keeping up growth but also for making growth being shared by bigger amount of population," Rato said.
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Inflation above five per cent level
New Delhi: Inflation stayed above the 5.0 per cent figure with the price level rising for the second consecutive week by 0.30 per cent to 5.3 per cent in the week ended March 5.

The point-to-point Wholesale Price Index (WPI) inflation rose from the previous week's level of 4.95 per cent basically due to costlier manufactured products including edible oils.
The price level stood at 4.79 per cent in the previous year period.

The WPI rose by 0.1 per cent to 188.9 points despite cheaper mass consumption primary articles, while fuel prices remained unchanged even as world oil prices touched 55 dollars a barrel. The index was 179.4 points in the year ago period.

Government revised upwards inflation to 5.77 per cent during the week ended January eight as against the provisional estimate of 5.6 per cent.

The WPI stood corrected at 188.9 points during the second week week of January as compared to provisional figure of 188.6 points.
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Govt. options on Dabhol Power Project open
New Delhi: The Government informed the Rajya Sabha that all options were being considered to revive the Dabhol Power Project and an empowered Group of Ministers (GoM) was looking into the matter.

"All options are open. Many options are being considered and no final decision has been taken," Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Suresh Pachouri said. He was responding to a CPI(M) member who sought a white paper on the project which is sought to be revived.

Raising the issue through a special mention, Dipankar Mukherjee said that Indian lenders were being asked to pay the dues to foreign banks to the tune of Rs2,000 crore and sought a clarification on whether Employees Provident Fund and LIC money of workers were being utilised to tide over the crisis.
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