The recent Supreme Court judgment dismissing pharma giant Novartis’ claim for patent protections in India for its award-winning and prohibitively priced anti-leukemia drug Glivec has renewed the focus on accessibly-priced drugs – in particular the failure of the Indian public healthcare system and health policy to ensure affordable drugs for all. Studies show that as much as 70% of health spending in India comes from out-of-pocket payments, with 50-80% of...

-The Hindu Ahmedabad: Going by the Gujarat government's figures, memorandums of understanding (MoUs) for Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) worth $876 billion were signed during its five biannual Vibrant Gujarat Global Investors Summits from 2003 to 2011 and a whopping 84 per cent of the projects have already been implemented or are under implementation. This would mean Gujarat has overtaken all of China, whose FDI inflows during this period were to the tune...

-Tehelka With 65 percent of the population below the age of 35, India boasts of an unparalleled generational dividend, but are we turning this potential into a disaster? Avalok Langer spots a ticking time bomb Nutrition & Health* 40% of children in India are malnourished 43% of children in the age group of 12-23 months receive full immunisation 48%+ of children are underweight 50%+ of all deaths under age 5 are related to malnutrition 45% of children...

-IANS Condemning the treatment meted out to the west bengal chief minister in Delhi, eminent writer and activist Mahasweta Devi Thursday said there was no alternative to Mamata Banerjee. "As a chief minister, I do not see any alternative to her. Those who have been opposing her are increasingly getting isolated from the common man," Mahasweta Devi told mediapersons here. Praising Banerjee for her endeavour to fulfill the commitments made to the people,...

-The Hindu   The flagship programme will now include LPG subsidy Admitting that the UPA government's ambitious flagship Direct Benefits Transfer (DBT) programme had run into unanticipated "difficulties" since its roll-out in January this year, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday exhorted the departments concerned to renew efforts for its successful implementation. Dr. Singh pointed to the "unsatisfactory nature of tracking and monitoring" systems of the scheme which had the potential of "transforming...