YUVASANSKRITI

  The Supreme Court on 12th January   adjudicated   to stay the three controversial farms laws, against which demonstrations were being carried out by the farmers of Punjab and Haryana near the borders of Delhi for the past for two months. The three laws, Farmers (Empowerment & Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance & Farm Services Act 2020, Farmers Produce Trade & Commerce (Promotion & Facilitation) Act & Amendment to Essential Commodities Act have been stayed until further orders. Various farm unions and politicians like Tiruchi Siva of the DMK and TN Parthapan of the Congress have challenged the constitutionality of the laws under Articles 14, 15 and 21. However, in its proceedings, the court did not venture into the merits or demerits of this case nor did it examine the constitutional validity of the laws. Instead, a four-member committee was set up to conduct deliberations with all respective stakeholders and submit a report to the SC on the sam...

  As the pandemic rages on, vaccine and inoculation seem to be the only fix. The question of vaccine equity is a rising concern with narratives of ‘vaccine nationalism’ dominating global geopolitics. At this juncture it is important to analyse how the patent waiver proposal of India and South Africa at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) will pan out in addressing this issue at hand. The proposal at the WTO On 2nd October, 2020 India and South Africa  submitted  a joint proposal at the WTO titled  “Waiver from certain provisions of the TRIPS agreement for the prevention, containment and treatment of COVID-19.”  The proposal requests that a waiver be granted to members of the WTO so that the member states do not have to enforce intellectual property requirements under several sections pertaining to copyrights and related rights, industrial design, patents, and protection of undisclosed information under Part Two of the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Propert...