They have all been killed quietly, leaving Devda just with 20 girls compared to 300 boys Avon Kanwar lives in fear. She is scared her food may be poisoned. She is afraid to sleep at night because she suspects she may be strangled. Avon, eight years old, is convinced her parents will kill her. “I don’t know where she hears such things,”says her father Sangh Singh, “We stopped killing girls...

As the stage is set for the crucial meeting of the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POP), a global regime to protect human health and the environment from dangerous chemicals, to be held in Geneva from April 25, a showdown between the Centre and Kerala has been underway. In the meeting with an all-party delegation from Kerala, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has reiterated the position taken by Union ministers...

The government may approve acquisitions of local drugmakers by global firms on a case-by-case basis on certain conditions to ensure availability of Medicines at affordable prices, despite calls for restrictions on such deals in the wake of a spate of takeovers in the last three years. Multinationals may have to move buyout proposals through the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB), allowing the government to understand the firm's rationale for buying a...

Scientists have launched a project to develop India’s first personal genetic data cards — credit card-sized plastic-and-magnetic devices that could dramatically expand access to personalised predictive Medicine. In its first phase, the project will capture genetic data to predict a person’s likely response to more than 100 drugs to help him avoid taking Medicines that may not benefit him or may cause him serious side-effects. Scientists also hope to use genetic data...

An Indian government science agency has established a formal mechanism to track patent claims filed in other countries to guard against India’s traditional knowledge, primarily in Medicine, being passed off as innovation. The Global Biopiracy Watch System is a new component of an effort initiated 10 years ago by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research to create a giant database of traditional knowledge contained in the Ayurveda, Unani and Siddha...