Vaccine-related deaths have shown an increase in the country since 2008, according to the information provided by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in response to an appLICation filed under the Right to Information Act, 2005. The total number of deaths reported due to adverse effects from immunisation (AEFI) from 2001 to 2007 was only 136, whereas it went up to 355 in the following three years. The information has come...

-The Business Standard   Privacy issues are coming into focus as a result of a variety of government initiatives. The Aadhar programme, for issuing unique identity numbers, raises obvious questions of privacy as personal data are compiled in a central database. Then there is the proposed National Grid, designed as a network of 21 available databases across government and private agencies, and meant to help flag potential terrorist threats. On top...

The steadily rising rate of economic growth in India has recently been around 8 percent per year (it is expected to be 9 percent this year), and there is much speculation about whether and when India may catch up with and surpass China’s over 10 percent growth rate. Despite the evident excitement that this subject seems to cause in India and abroad, it is surely rather silly to be obsessed...

To increase transparency, India’s patent regulator will soon make pubLIC details about patented drugs which include whether domestic demand for these medicines is met at a reasonable price. Patent holders in the country are required to submit once every year the so-called working details which include the quantity and value of a product that is sold, manufacturing base, quantity of production or imports, and a statement on whether pubLIC requirement has...

-The Hindu   The terms of the final agreement with French company Areva SA for the Jaitapur nuclear plant in Maharashtra will be vetted by the Union Cabinet, a senior official said here on Sunday. “The terms for the final contract are ready from our end and they will be circulated among Ministers, soon after which it will be placed before the Cabinet for its approval,” Secretary to the Department of Atomic...