-Economic and Political Weekly The decision to reduce the powers of the drug pricing body goes against the interest of public health. The decision of the Government of India to withdraw the power of the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) to set price controls on drugs that are not on the National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM) raises questions on the Narendra Modi regime's commitment to people's welfare. One must ask if...
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Costs of ignoring hunger -S Mahendra Dev
-The Hindu Ignoring hunger and malnutrition will have significant costs to any country's development. Nutrition improvement has both intrinsic and instrumental value One of the disappointments in the post-reform period in India has been the slow progress in the reduction of malnutrition, especially with reference to the underweight among children. In fact, the rate of change in the percentage of underweight children has been negligible in the period 1998-99 to 2005-06; the...
More »Internal remittances need focus -Jairam Ramesh
-Livemint Less than a third of internal remittances flow through formal institutional channels (like banks) and this where the use of Aadhaar can have a major positive impact India is the largest recipient of remittances from its workers abroad. It received close to $70 billion in 2013-14, which was about a not-insubstantial 3.5% of GDP (gross domestic product). About 30% of these remittances are from West Asia and another 30% or so...
More »Water conservation methods come to a small farmer’s rescue -MJ Prabu
-The Hindu A well recharge pit was also dug for harvesting the rains Appiyampatti, a small hamlet in Dindugal district of Tamil Nadu, is one among the several villages in the state which has been facing a severe drought for the past over five years. Even during such a critical phase when several farmers left farming and started moving out in search of alternative work Mr. V.Chellamutu remained anchored in the village to...
More »GM Crops and Global Agri Trade -Sukhpal Singh
-Economic and Political Weekly The cultivation of geneticallymodified crops, especially food crops, is not just a domestic issue; it has an impact on global food trade as well. Sukhpal Singh (sukhpal@iimahd.ernet.in) is at the Centre for Management in Agriculture, IIM, Ahmedabad. There is no doubt that the application of biotechnology can lead to yield improvement, cost cutting and lower crop losses, besides providing more processable raw materials and designer products. That is why...
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