-Down to Earth New laws to regulate sand mining have not had much impact Illegal sand mining is a perennial problem in India. But it assumes gargantuan proportions right before the onset of monsoon because swollen rivers make extraction extremely difficult during the rainy season. To make most of the lean period, mine owners and hoarders try to dig out as much sand as possible, through legal and illegal means, in...

-Down to Earth Why did we grant Pfizer's claim on a pneumonia vaccine which has been rejected elsewhere? In august, the medical and public health fraternity was stunned when India’s Patent Office granted US pharma giant Pfizer’s claim on its vaccine against pneumonia, the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV), marketed as Prevnar13. For a country that has stricter patentability criteria than most others, India’s decision was baffling because Pfizer’s patent has been rejected...

-The Indian Express The Food Safety and Standards Regulations, 2.3.4, prohibit the use of tobacco and nicotine as ingredients in any food products and bans sale of all food products where tobacco is present as ingredient such as gutka and pan masala. Pune: The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) issued a directive on October 9 banning the manufacture, sale and distribution of gutka and pan masala (with tobacco and...

-Down to Earth NHRC has sent notices to Centre and Maharashtra, demanding detailed report in four weeks The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has taken suo motu cognizance of media reports on how several farmers in Maharashtra’s  Yavatmal district had to be hospitalised during the last three months due to an infection caused by spraying of a pesticide on the cotton crops. Many have reportedly died and condition of several other...

-Scroll.in The Swaraj India leader says the economy needs a big boost in the rural areas and for small scale manufacturers. In July, Yogendra Yadav, the national president of the Swaraj India party, embarked on a nationwide movement accompanied by activists and hundreds of farmers. Under the banner of the All India Kisan Sangharsh Co-ordination Committee, a coalition of more than 150 farmer unions across the country, the yatra was planned...