-The Times of India NEW DELHI: A government task force has recommended changes in the existing drug price regulation which could result in a spike in prices of essential medicines. These include suggestions to pull several medicines out of price control, which is likely to impact drugs used in treatment of diabetes, cancer and cardiovascular diseases as well as antibiotics. "There is a need to review the implementation of DPCO (Drugs Price...

-Business Standard More money, better governance needed in public health care India's poor health outcomes are well known. Not only have China and Sri Lanka forged far ahead, in recent years Bangladesh and Nepal have overtaken India from behind. As things stand, in South Asia, India remains ahead of only Pakistan. The state of health is a reflection of both what is spent and how it is spent. The twin endeavours must...

-Business Standard Indian farming is labour intensive as mechanization is expensive. This model might change it while keeping the cost very low. The single biggest challenge in farming is debt. A large share of farmers’ insurmountable debt burden comes from purchase of farm equipment. Mechanized farming results in higher productivity but is notoriously capital intensive. A 40 HP tractor with 2 basic implements (a rotavator and a cultivator) and a trolley costs...

-The Hindu The fact that food companies prosper but farmers commit suicide shows that profits are in the market, not the farm. It is time to replicate the Amul story many times over In the ongoing debates on the new land acquisition bill, the potential of agribusiness to address agrarian distress has not been explored. There are several domestic agriculture companies, both listed and private, that are doing extremely well amidst an...

-Livemint.com The petitioners have pinned their hopes on a clause in the 2013 land law that the government is now planning to amend   Punjabhai Modhwadia, 42, isn’t giving up his land. Not without a fight. Sitting under a banyan tree overlooking fields of cotton, jowar and groundnut, next to what Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) chairman Mukesh Ambani called one of the biggest construction sites in the world, the Jamnagar farmer describes why...