-The Hindu Unless a deeper, institutional change is ushered in to break the nexus between drug companies and the regulatory regime, Indians consuming drugs may be exposing themselves to serious risks Even before I walked into the Mayflower Hotel in the heart of Washington on a crisp autumn afternoon to meet Dinesh Thakur, whistle-blower and former director of India-based pharmaceutical giant Ranbaxy, I had a hunch that this conversation would spark some...

-The Hindu It was the visible hand of the state rather than the invisible hand of the market that helped the developing world catch up with the industrialised countries The emerging significance of developing countries, which gathered momentum after 1980, is beginning to shift the balance of power in the world economy. It could lead to a profound transformation in the next 25 years. This unfolding reality must be situated in the...

-Press Information Bureau The official Wholesale Price Index for ‘All Commodities' (Base: 2004-05 = 100) for the month of September, 2013 rose by 1.2 percent to 179.7 (provisional) from 177.5 (provisional) for the previous month. INFLATION The annual rate of inflation, based on monthly WPI, stood at 6.46% (provisional) for the month of September, 2013 (over September, 2012) as compared to 6.10% (provisional) for the previous month and 8.07% during the corresponding month...

-The Business Standard Central bank chief Raghuram Rajan likely to retain stance later this week, say economists Inflation in onions skyrocketed to 244.62% in August against already high 119.4% in the previous month, jacking up the the rate of wholesale price rise to a six-month high of 6.10% from 5.8% in July, official data showed today. Ironically, onion prices can't be brought down by interest rate policy, but it is all set to...

-The Hindu     Questioning a technology, especially of the kind that has serious unknowns and lacks clear social benefits, is not an attack on science Jairam Ramesh, former Environment Minister for India, made the brave decision in 2010 to tell his then apex regulator of genetically modified organisms (GEAC) that it had failed to properly use available science to determine the safety - to human health and the environment - of Bt brinjal,...