-The Indian Express "If we did not have a patent system, it would be irresponsible, on the basis of our present knowledge of its economic consequences, to recommend instituting one." So said Fritz Machlup, a wise American economist several decades ago. His words remain as true now as they were then. For, the patent system is one of the most faulty legal regimes that one could possibly have conceived. It purports...

-The Hindu Business Line New Delhi: One-third of India's women and children under the age of five are underweight and micronutrient deficiencies are common. The country, however, is making progress against hunger as shown by India moving up eight places from last year on the Global Hunger Index (GHI) to rank 55th out of 76 nations. To explore related aspects of nutrition improvement across various sectors, the International Food Policy Research...

-IANS New Delhi: India's improved ranking in the Global Hunger Index is good news, but the country still has a long way to go as one-third of its women and children under five still underweight, experts said Wednesday. India improved its position from 63rd in 2013 to 55th in 2014 in the Global Hunger Index released recently. "India has clearly made progress towards improving nutrition, but the road ahead is still long,"...

-The Hindu Ignoring hunger and malnutrition will have significant costs to any country's development. Nutrition improvement has both intrinsic and instrumental value One of the disappointments in the post-reform period in India has been the slow progress in the reduction of malnutrition, especially with reference to the underweight among children. In fact, the rate of change in the percentage of underweight children has been negligible in the period 1998-99 to 2005-06; the...

-The Indian Express India needs a national effort to speed up human development. That India was ranked 135 out of 187 countries on UNDP's human development index is perhaps the greatest concern for a nation with global ambition. In order to sustain our growth momentum and translate the gains of growth into wellbeing at a faster pace, India needs to rejig its strategy for accelerated human development. The performance in education and health...