Argumentative Indians are at it again! After sparring over the poverty line and the actual number of poor, India's renowned economists have fired up a fresh debate over the extent of malnutrition. In the earlier debate, the Planning Commission ‘reduced' poverty on paper disregarding NSSO and official committees, including the NCEUS, which determined that 77% Indians survived on less than Rs 20 a day. Columbia university economist Arvind Panagariya has...

-The Business Standard USFDA's zero tolerance policy requires our drug firms to reorient not just processes but organisational cultures to serve that market credibly The following two quotes from the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) news releases may help put the Ranbaxy controversy in perspective. The first sums up what it is that drives the FDA and the second is typical of the challenge the pharmaceutical industry faces. (1) "The consent...

-The United Nations A United Nations report released today stresses the importance of providing meals for schoolchildren, particularly in times of crisis, and notes that this is still lacking in many developing countries. "School feeding assures that where quality education is available, children are able to take advantage of the opportunity to learn," said the Executive Director of the World Food Programme (WFP), Ertharin Cousin. "It's an investment that pays off in the...

-The Economic Times NEW DELHI: Petrol could become costlier by about 4 a litre if the government compels oil firms to sell 5% ethanol-blended petrol across the country by next month as these companies would be forced to import huge quantities of the biofuel at exorbitant rates. But, the Cabinet, which will meet soon to discuss the issue, may relax compulsory doping as it would want petrol prices to rise sharply, months...

-The Economic Times Japanese companies do not mind erring on the side of caution. They are known to think longer and harder than their counterparts in other countries about big decisions, especially when it comes to entering a new market or acquiring a foreign company. But Japan's third biggest drugmaker Daiichi Sankyo would now wish it had spent more time doing due diligence on Ranbaxy Labs, in which it bought a...