-Scroll.in With reports of abandoned cows destroying crops, the state’s cow protection panel has proposed penalties on owners who set them free. The Bharatiya Janata Party is scrambling to contain the fallout of its efforts to prevent the slaughter of cows, which have distorted rural economies in unforeseen ways. To deal with one unexpected consequence, a Madhya Pradesh government panel has now recommended penalties for farmers who abandon their cattle. This highlights...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: A group of Indian doctors has urged the Narendra Modi government to resist any US government or industry pressure to reverse its decisions earlier this year to impose price caps on coronary stents and knee implants. The Association of Doctors for Ethical Practices (ADEH) said on Wednesday that it is hoping the Indian government will "remain firm" on its decision to cap the prices of the devices because...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: Health activists campaigning for affordable treatment on Wednesday urged the Narendra Modi government to resist "pressure" from foreign medical device makers and expand price caps to new classes of medical devices. The All India Drug Action Network (AIDAN), a consortium of non-government activists' groups, said it was concerned that a body of foreign medical device manufacturers had petitioned the US government seeking suspension or withdrawal of certain trade...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday banned the use of petroleum coke and furnace oil in the National Capital Region, Haryana and Rajasthan by 34 industrial groups in its efforts to bring down pollution levels that have spiked in the industrial hubs of these areas post-Diwali. These fuels, which emanate highly toxic gases, are banned in Delhi since 1996. The Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) lauded the directive as...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: The sale of drug combinations containing last-resort antibiotics is rising faster than overall antibiotics sales in India, health researchers have said in a study that also highlights the government's failure to stop the sale of irrational and unapproved antibiotic cocktails. While total antibiotics sales in India rose 26 per cent over a four-year period, says the study, there was a 174 per cent increase in the sales of...