-The Times of India MUMBAI: Nearly 90 lakh farmers in Maharashtra have been impacted by the drought that has devastated the kharif crop, official data shows. The figure is almost on a par with the population of Sweden. Maharashtra is already known for its farm crisis and reports the highest number of farmer's suicides in the country. The drought - brought on by a delayed and inadequate monsoon - is set to...

-The Hindu Business Line Mumbai: A fresh bout of opposition has been filed against Gilead's patent application on hepatitis c drug sofosbuvir. This comes close on the heels of a spate of developments involving the drug, last month. Non-government organisation Sankalp Rehabilitation Trust, represented by the Lawyers Collective has filed a pre-grant opposition on the drug in the Delhi patent office. (A pre-grant opposition allows interested parties to oppose a patent application...

-The Hindustan Times The Centre may act against some of the 188 NGOs red-flagged by the Intelligence Bureau for alleged misuse of foreign funds, suspected extremist links and proselytization. These non-government organisations were reported by the internal spy agency and a list sent to the home ministry, documents accessed by HT have revealed. The country's top tax body the central board of direct taxes (CBDT) and enforcement directorate (ED), which tracks foreign funds...

-The Hindustan Times At a time when global political and business leaders are discussing at the World Economic Forum in Davos ways to be more socially responsible and reduce social divide, a report says most Indian businesses lag behind in fulfilling their corporate social responsibility (CSR). According to the report published by German development Aid agency Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GiZ) in collaboration with the Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs...

-The Hindustan Times In a significant order on Tuesday, the Delhi High Court unblocked Rs 1.87 crore received by NGO Greenpeace from its Amsterdam headquarters. The NGO had filed a case after the ministry of home affairs in June last year directed the Reserve Bank of India to take prior permission of the ministry before clearing any foreign Aid to the NGO from Greenpeace International and Climate Works. Saying that there is...