The head of the United Nations World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) today wrapped up a five-day visit to India, during which a major focus of discussions was protecting traditional knowledge, genetic resources and folklore. Director General Francis Gurry lauded India as a “pioneer” in dealing with questions related to these three issues, according to a news release issued by the Geneva-based agency. In particular, he highlighted the publicly available Traditional...

Despite signs of an economic revival gathering pace around the globe, the millions of people laid off during the worst recession in 70 years are unlikely to see relief any time soon as joblessness is still climbing in many of the world's largest economies. Unemployment data typically lags other indicators of economic health as companies hold off adding staff in the early stages of a rebound. The upturns recorded recently in...

A fact finding team of many civil society organizations has reported widespread occurrences of murders, tortures and cases of police atrocities in Chhattisgarh in the name of combating Naxalism. It is also being alleged that in the name of their own security, journalists are being stopped from going to so called “combat zones” where security forces have launched an Operation Greenhunt to flush out armed Maoists.  Fifteen members of the...

“This is a country on the make.” The speaker was a young assistant to one of India’s rising political stars. And from his perspective, it did look that way. We were sitting in the lobby restaurant of New Delhi’s luxurious Taj Mahal Hotel. That evening, the Taj was not only the place for a government reception following Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s decisive re-election victory, but it was also the scene...

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and World Health Organization (WHO) launched a new action plan on Monday to prevent up to 5.3 million children from dying of pneumonia – the biggest child killer worldwide – by 2015. Although nearly 2 million children die from the disease every year, with nearly all deaths occurring in 68 developing countries, relatively few resources are dedicated to addressing pneumonia. The Global Action Plan...