-The Hindu The research lab claims their idea will be more effective that Delhi's proposed odd-even licence-plate policing. A mid-week work-from-home, rather than licence-plate policing, may be the solution to Delhi’s pollution crisis, suggests the policy arm of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, India’s largest chain of publicly-funded research labs. The Delhi government's plan to impose restrictions on private car usage, to check air pollution, may be harder to implement and...

-The Hindu Historians, academics join growing protests Mumbai/ New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi came under a severe attack from civil society as scientists, filmmakers, artists, writers and historians joined hands in censuring the government for its ‘failure to address the rising intolerance and inability to maintain peace in society.’ Eminent scientist and founder director of the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, P.M. Bhargava told The Hindu on Thursday that he would...

-The Times of India LUCKNOW: A scientifically validated anti-diabetes herbal drug, named 'BGR-34', was launched by a Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) lab in Lucknow on Sunday. A combination of natural extracts from plants, the drug is based on Ayurveda and has no side effects. The drug is for management of type-II diabetes mellitus. The drug has been jointly developed by two CSIR laboratories, National Botanical Research Institute (NBRI) and...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: India scored an important success when it fully protected its traditional knowledge by stalling a leading UK-based laboratory's move to patent a medicinal composition containing turmeric, pine bark and green tea for treating hair loss. The move comes just days after India foiled a similar attempt by US-based consumer goods giant Colgate-Palmolive from patenting a mouthwash formula containing herbal extracts. The vigilance of the Traditional Knowledge...

-Vikalp Once again, India is under pressure from the US to revise its patent law. Anyone familiar with the activities of the United States Trade Representatives (USTR) would know that this is nothing new. It has been among the USTR's primary mandates to use trade restrictions in order to persuade (to put it mildly) countries to strengthen their IPR laws. There is, however, a qualitative difference between the actions it has...