-PTI Deteriorating air quality in the national capital could be a reason for serious health risk, government today said but maintained that there is no conclusive data to establish it. Environment Minister Jayanthi Natarajan also informed the Rajya Sabha that the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) is monitoring air quality in Delhi and steps have been taken to control environmental pollution. Noting that health effects, such as manifestation of respiratory ailments, could be...

-The Telegraph The Union cabinet today approved a controversial drug pricing policy that had been opposed by the health ministry, the finance ministry and public health policy experts who fear it will legitimise high prices of medicines. A government source said the cabinet has cleared the drug pricing policy that health experts suspect will determine caps on prices of 348 drugs through a formula based on market prices of drugs rather than...

-Outlook The government today cleared the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Policy that will bring 348 essential drugs under price control, leading to reduction in prices. "The National Pharmaceutical Pricing policy has been approved by the Cabinet with an objective to put in place a regulatory framework for pricing of drugs to ensure their availability at reasonable prices," an official source said. At present, the government through the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) controls prices...

-The Economic Times The appointment of the third education commission headed by leading sociologist Andre Beiteille to undertake a major policy review appears to be held up after the Prime Minister's Office raised concerns over including a naturalised US citizen as a member. The human resource development ministry had named Pranab Bardhan, a professor of economics at the University of California at Berkeley, as a member of the commission. Bardhan is a...

-The Economic Times MUMBAI: The ministerial panel entrusted with framing the country's drug pricing guidelines will meet Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Wednesday to discuss its final draft policy. The Group of Ministers, led by Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, has decided to keep the market-based pricing mechanism but tweak the methodology used for calculating the price increase, a move it hopes will address the concerns of the finance ministry. The ministry was initially...