-The Hindu The Supreme Court has denied Novartis a patent for its anti-cancer drug Gleevec. This leaves the door open for Indian pharmaceutical Companies to produce their own versions of the drug. Since these are sold at roughly one tenth of the patented brand price, for thousands of cancer patients it means the difference between medicine and no medicine at all. It is not just cancer patients that will benefit, but...

-The Hindu     Drug patents are designed to create profits that enable more research on diseases affecting millions. But in practice, they have often generated super profits for big pharma Companies while erecting access barriers for the poor. The Novartis case spotlights much that is wrong with the system. The rejection of the Novartis petition challenging one of the most progressive tenets of the Indian Patents Act (1970), as amended in 2005 by...

-PTI The Unique Identification (UID) Aadhaar number will soon be a "valid" proof of identity and address to obtain a PAN card. A proposal for inclusion of Aadhaar in the existing list of valid proof of identification and proof of address for allotment of PAN was sent to the finance ministry by the Unique Identification Authority of India sometime back. The ministry has decided to notify rules in this regard. It is aimed...

-The Hindu   The absence of a comprehensive rehabilitation policy for surrendered militants has made life hellish for those who decided to give themselves up and join the mainstream Jammu & Kashmir's first "Surrender Policy" was floated by Governor Gen. (retd.) K.V. Krishna Rao's administration in 1995. It was almost identical to the policies introduced for militants involved in the North East and Naxalite insurgencies: Rs.1.5 lakh worth of fixed deposit receipts payable...

-Live Mint Legal challenge threatens to undermine what Indian power firms had cheered as a major boost to sector The Haryana government will challenge the central power regulator's ruling this week that allows Adani Power Ltd to raise tariffs for electricity supplied to existing clients in two states, its power minister told Reuters on Thursday. The Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) has allowed Adani Power to charge "compensatory" tariffs for electricity from its...