-The Times of India Big pharma may be crying hoarse over India's "weak'' intellectual property environment, but over the past five years or so, they have introduced only a handful of their patented blockbusters in the country. That's not all. The contribution of patented drugs in the Rs 72,000-crore pharma retail market is not even 1%, indicating that multinationals have been traditionally slow and have a poor track record in introducing...

-PTI The condition of government hospitals in Delhi drew a sharp criticism from Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), which, in its report found several glaring shortcomings like unavailability of blood banks in five hospitals. The CAG today painted a sorry state of affairs at government hospitals in the national capital in its report for the fiscal year ending March 2012, which was tabled in Delhi Assembly. The government auditor said that scrutiny of...

-The Economic Times Extension of life is priceless. Simply priceless." These were the words of Venkat Krishnan (name changed) to Novartis after receiving treatment with Glivec for about two years. Following his diagnosis with chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML), Venkat married his college sweetheart against the wishes of her family. After all, the prognosis in those days for people suffering from CML was not promising. Taking interferon, a powerful immune therapy, was the...

-The Indian Express A day after the deadline for implementation of the Right To Education (RTE) Act expired, representatives of the Delhi State Public Schools Association (DSPSA) met Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit and Education Minister Kiran Walia, seeking a reprieve. Speaking to Newsline, Walia said, "We have already brought down the minimum area requirement to 200 square meters. Beyond this, there are concerns of fire safety and other issues." She said the delegation...

-The Hindu On Monday, the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009, completes three years of its existence - the time frame within which authorities were to ensure that its provisions were fully implemented - to make basic education a legal entitlement to all children aged 6-14. However, official statistics and reports from the field paint a far-from satisfactory picture, with citizens moving court against the competent authority...