-Down to Earth Why did we grant Pfizer's claim on a pneumonia vaccine which has been rejected elsewhere? In august, the medical and public health fraternity was stunned when India’s Patent Office granted US pharma giant Pfizer’s claim on its vaccine against pneumonia, the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV), marketed as Prevnar13. For a country that has stricter patentability criteria than most others, India’s decision was baffling because Pfizer’s patent has been rejected...

-The Times of India Former economic affairs secretary Shaktikanta Das , who played a key role during the demonetisation drive, spoke to TOI's Sidhartha & Surojit Gupta, four months after retiring from service in May. He says he does not agree with the criticism that implementation of demonetisation had serious shortcomings. Excerpts: * What is your assessment on the state of the economy? The macroeconomic parameters, except the growth figures which are down...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: A leading cancer specialist has called on the government to investigate whether a "tobacco lobby" has influenced arms of the government to initiate action against public health organisations engaged in India's tobacco control efforts. Kailash Sharma, director of academics at the Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai, has cited leaked government and tobacco industry documents to seek a probe into whether a Union home ministry note allegedly depicting tobacco control...

-Hindustan Times Raghuram Rajan makes the disclosure in his latest book -- I do what I do – which is a compilation of speeches he delivered on a wide range of issues as the RBI governor. Former RBI governor Raghuram Rajan has revealed that he did not favour demonetisation as he felt the short term economic costs associated with such a disruptive decision would outweigh any longer term benefits from it. Rajan...

-Business Standard EU commission is dissatisfied both with non-compliance and lack of progress by Indian authorities Bhubaneswar: Indian seafood exports may come under inspection in the European Union (EU), the third-largest market of India, because antibiotics are being frequently found in them. Speculation among UK importers is rife that the EU is considering a ban on aquaculture products from India though there is nothing to support this. In 2016-17, the European Union accounted for...