-The Financial Express A patent law that is transparent, based on principles of good science & encourages innovation is in India's interest In 500 BC, in the Greek city of Sybaris, it was proclaimed that "encouragement was held out to all who should discover any new refinement in luxury, the profits arising from which were secured to the inventor by patent for the space of a year." England followed with the Statute...

-The Hindu The Supreme Court order rejecting a plea to grant patent protection for Glivec, a cancer-fighting drug from Novartis, is a landmark. It will greatly strengthen the quest for access to affordable medicines in India. The decision affirms the idea that a patent regime loses its social relevance when a drug is priced beyond the reach of the vast majority of a country's people. That pharmaceutical companies employ high pricing...

-The Times of India LONDON: Herbal medicines are causing millions in India to develop kidney failure and bladder cancer. In a warning that is bound to cause a fresh row over the quality of Asian herbal medicines, British Scientists were due to announce on Tuesday that millions of people in Asia — specially in India and China — might be exposed to the risk of kidney failure and bladder cancer from taking...

-The Hindu Environmentalists say EIL is not qualified to conduct study, want report to be reviewed by an independent experts panel Ahemedabad: Environmental experts and activists, who have alleged that Engineers India Limited (EIL) is not qualified and accredited as yet to conduct an environmental impact assessment (EIA) of the Mithivirdi nuclear power plant in Gujarat’s Saurashtra region, have found serious gaps in the EIA report itself in its present form. They have...

-The Hindu Criteria have not been met and blatant attempt to saffronise higher education, say academics and student bodies From a tiny room on the first floor of a small building in a quiet area of Basaveshwaranagar, the Harsha Kriya Foundation runs its affairs. The Foundation has recently got the green signal for setting up the Amrutha Sinchana Spiritual University, first of its kind in Karnataka. Speaking to The Hindu in an office...