-PTI The National Green Tribunal has sought the reply of Union Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) on a plea against grant of any clearance to any new project in ecologically sensitive Western Ghats. The Tribunal also issued notices to the state governments of Maharashtra, Karnataka, Goa, Kerala, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu seeking their replies on the plea for implementation of the report by Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel (WGEEP) on the...

It is said that only God and a few good men and women run India. One such man is P H Kurien. For readers unfamiliar with his name, Kurien was India's Controller General of Patents, Designs & Trade Marks until March 12, 2012. On March 9, 2012, just three days before he left office, he issued the first-ever compulsory LICence in India for the manufacture of a drug still under patent....

-The New York Times India's coalition government just celebrated the third anniversary of its tenure with a self-congratulatory banquet that could not have been more poorly timed: India's currency, the rupee, is falling; investment is down; inflation is rising; and deficits are eating away at government coffers. While short-term growth has slowed but not ground to a halt, India's problems have dampened hopes that it, along with China and other non-Western economies,...

A commission set up to investigate the scourge of rampant illegal mining has slapped a showcause notice on the Jharkhand government seeking an explanation on how four firms were allowed to extract iron ore far in excess of stipulated limits in the Saranda region between 2008 and 2010. In a letter dated April 30, 2012, the commission headed by retired judge M.B. Shah has given the state mines and geology department...

German drugmaker Bayer AG has demanded the withdrawal of the country's first compulsory LICence given to Natco Pharma, arguing that a three-fourth reduction in the price of the anti-cancer drug by another Indian firm has made the permit redundant and its patent itself is vulnerable to being revoked. In March, India allowed Natco Pharma to legally make and sell a low-cost version of cancer drug Nexavar at 3% of the original...