-The Hindu Business Line The Government has constituted an Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) think-tank to help draft a new National IPR Policy and to advice it on issues related to intellectual property. The think-tank, headed by Justice Prabha Sridevan, will highlight anomalies in the present IPR legislations and advice the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) on possible solutions, according to an official release. It will also provide views on the possible...

-The Times of India With the Prime Minister himself taking up the broom along with his cabinet colleagues, BJP CADres and lakhs of government employees, the Swachh Bharat (Clean India) campaign got off to an energetic start on Thursday. But a look at the jaw-dropping dimensions of the problem makes one wonder whether Modi really has a chance to meet his target to clean up India by 2019? Here are some sobering...

-The Business Standard A ray of hope for Indian generic drug makers Gilead Sciences, the California-headquartered biotechnology company, has authorised seven India-based drug makers - Cipla, Ranbaxy, Mylan, Strides Arcolab, Hetero, CADila Healthcare and Sequent Scientific - to manufacture and sell the generic versions of its hepatitis C medicine, Sovaldi, in 91 developing countries. Earlier in the week, Lupin, the fourth largest Indian drug maker, announced that it will develop and supply...

-PTI The National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) has capped the prices of 43 formulation packs including drugs such as the antibiotic ciprofloxacin, BCG vaccine and the anti-diabetic metformin. "The prices have been fixed / revised in respect of 43 formulation packs, both ceiling and retail price packs, under DPCO, 2013," NPPA said. According to the drug price regulator the manufacturers selling the 43 drugs at maximum retail price higher than the ceiling price...

In the midst of irregular monsoons affecting agriculture, a new report shows stagnation in the state of irrigation infrastructure. The recent report entitled Infrastructure Statistics 2014 (Third Issue) by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) has provided information that despite the rise in expenditure on irrigation infrastructure, there has been no substantial improvement in the gross irrigation potential utilized*. Athough expenditure on irrigation has increased from Rs. 36561.64 crores...