-Livemint.com The Union government has cut the prices of genetically-modified cotton seeds and slashed royalty fees by 74% The Union government’s decision to cut the prices of genetically-modified (GM) cotton seeds, popularly known as Bt cotton, and slash royalty fees, will have a positive impact on cotton farming in Maharashtra, India’s top state in terms of area under cotton cultivation. The Maharashtra government’s agriculture officials, cotton growers and officials at the Nagpur-based...

-The Indian Express Government privileges the private over the pubLIC, preferring trade to health In a dramatic development, US industry groups recently claimed the Indian government offered them a “private” assurance that compulsory LICences will not be issued, save in emergencies and for non-commercial purposes. Needless to state, such an assurance flies in the face of the Patents Act and the pubLIC health safeguards enshrined in it. Illustratively, Section 84 mandates that...

-TheWire.in The government appears bent on decisively abandoning the earlier consensus of adherence to pubLIC health goals. In what is widely being hailed as an extraordinary victory for the multinational pharmaceutical industry over the Indian government, the US-India Business Council (USIBC), in its submission to the United States Trade Representative (USTR), reports that the Indian government has “privately assured” the industry that it would not use compulsory LICences (CLs) for commercial purposes....

-The Hindu Business Line Govt acts on a letter from farmers’ union on bollworm developing resistance to technology   Hyderabad: Even as it announced a nation-wide uniform price for cottonseed for the upcoming kharif season, the Union government has asked Mahyco Monsanto Biotech (India) Limited why it should not revoke the patent it granted for the Bollgard II technology. The Department of Industry PoLICy and Promotion (DIPP) has served a show cause notice to...

-Livemint.com The nine-member cotton seed price control committee has recommended a maximum sale price of Rs.800 for a 450g packet of Bollgard II Bt cotton seeds New Delhi: A government panel on genetically modified Bt cotton has recommended a steep reduction in royalty fees payable to technology companies, and lower seed prices. If accepted, the recommendations will benefit nearly 8 million cotton farmers in India, but may raise concerns about how India...