-The Hindu     The much-awaited Drug (Prices Control) Order 2013 has disappointed millions of patients, as it lacks a fair formula to fix the price ceiling and leaves Important drug classes out of regulation. The result: High out-of-pocket spending on medicines will continue As far as intentions go, the Drug (Prices Control) Order 2013 is aimed at making critical drugs affordable and available to the public, while preserving a rationale for manufacture by...

-The Hindu The current market prices are essentially over and above the actual cost of production - a difference that could run from 100 per cent to 5,600 per cent, depending upon various therapeutic categories In a liberalised market economy, do we need price controls on drugs? Policymakers and the pharmaceutical industry do not think so. They believe that price controls are an inefficient tool that distorts resource allocation, squeezes revenue, reduces...

-The Business Standard   The food security ordinance would empower poor urban migrants to challenge denial of ration cards The new Food Security Ordinance provides virtually nothing and yet quite a lot. What it provides is food as a legal right. And that means a lot for a poor migrant in a city chawl, with no local address proof, having left all identity cards back in their native village and unable to claim anything...

-The Business Standard Haryana's Bhupinder Singh Hooda was the other CM to say the state would be ready to roll out the scheme from August 20 Within days of promulgating the food security Ordinance, the Congress on Saturday got into the act of ensuring "speedy implementation" of the scheme in the party-ruled states. Thirteen party chief ministers discussed nuances of the Ordinance with party president Sonia Gandhi on Saturday. The party is...

-The Hindu blog   Data from the latest Transparency International report throws up few surprises as far as India is concerned. Virtually no key institution or sector in India is seen as being free from corruption in the latest survey of the international anti-corruption watchdog Transparency International, which, in its report 'Global Corruption Barometer 2013' states that bribe paying levels remain "very high" worldwide. Data from the report offers interesting insights into global corruption...