-The Economic Times While India frets about coal block allocations, massive policy failures have hit people where it hurts most: the stomach. While granaries are overflowing and sugar piling up, one would have expected the prices of sugar and flour to fall, or remain stable. Instead, since mid-July, wheat prices are up 20% across the country and flour prices have also shot up. For sugar, whose prices are up 12% from mid-July,...
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Pricing of imported drugs under regulatory scanner-Khomba Singh
-The Economic Times India's drug price regulator has initiated a process to end the 16-year freedom enjoyed by foreign drug makers to fix the retail price of their imported medicines in the country. The National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) has written to the department of pharmaceuticals to amend the Drugs (Prices Control) Order of 1995, its chairman CP Singh told ET. The amendment will allow NPPA to seek details of the methodology adopted...
More »The era of cheap food may be over-Larry Elliott
-The Guardian A spike in prices caused by poor harvests and rising demand is an apt moment for the west to reassess the wisdom of biofuels The last decade saw the end of cheap oil, the magic growth ingredient for the global economy after the second world war. This summer's increase in maize, wheat and soya bean prices – the third spike in the past five years – suggests the era of...
More »Controller General-MK Venu
-The Indian Express Competitive politics within the legislature is threatening to undermine the space and legitimacy of executive authorities to implement social and economic policies in the country. The Congress-led UPA may have been weakened to a point where any observation by the CAG becomes a millstone around its neck, even if the CAG is seen as excessive in the way he interprets the alleged lapses by the government. The danger...
More »Curb on over-the-counter sale of 92 antibiotics soon -Kounteya Sinha
-The Times of India Over-the-counter sale of around 92 antibiotic and anti-tuberculosis drugs in India will be restricted soon. Drug Controller General of India G N Singh has written to the Union health minister to notify a new schedule, H1, in the Drugs and Cosmetics Rules. Once notified, following clearance from the law ministry, these drugs cannot be sold without prescription. The drugs will also have to carry a prominent label in red...
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