-The Times of India Big pharma may be crying hoarse over India's "weak'' intellectual property environment, but over the past five years or so, they have introduced only a handful of their patented blockbusters in the country. That's not all. The contribution of patented drugs in the Rs 72,000-crore pharma retail market is not even 1%, indicating that multinationals have been traditionally slow and have a poor track record in introducing...

-Bloomberg The corpse of Indian farmer Bengali Singh burned to ash atop a blazing funeral pyre on the banks of the river Ganges in 2006. Five years later, the dead man was recorded as being paid by India's $33 billion rural jobs program to dig an irrigation canal in Jharkhand state. Officials in his village and the surrounding region used at least 500 identities, including those of Singh, a disabled child of...

-Live Mint Tariffs reach at least Rs.4 per unit in many states, finds analysis, amid efforts to bail out state discoms Indian domestic consumers in 16 states are paying at least `4 per unit for power and in some cases even more, according to an analysis, thus giving the lie to the long-held axiom that raising tariffs is nearly impossible in India given the political compulsions. The finding also shows conclusively that...

-The Telegraph Calcutta: The Bengal government today suggested that panchayat elections be held on May 5 and 8, springing in the high court a surprise that had little new other than the fresh dates. The government's proposal did not address the security concerns of the state election commission that had moved Calcutta High Court on Monday. According to the commission, central forces have to be deployed if the polls are held in two...

-The Economic Times Six years after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh first urged India Inc to pro-actively offer employment to the less privileged sections of society, the government has not been able to walk the talk. A special recruitment drive initiated by it has failed to meet targets. Under the government's affirmative drive launched in 2008 and focused purely on offering jobs to candidates from Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Classes...