-The Guardian Had Novartis won, it would have set a precedent for patenting of other medicines in India, delaying their reaching the poor   The battle for affordable, life-saving medicines for poor countries was once waged on first-world city streets with banners and placards. But for some years now it has been a long-hard legal slog in offices and courtrooms. A decade or so ago, it was mostly about Access to Aids drugs. Firms...

-The Indian Express A nationwide study by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) to examine the enrolment, Access and retention of children with disabilities (CWD) has revealed that while 99 per cent of these children liked attending regular schools, 57 per cent teachers were not trained to understand their special needs. The study has found that special needs of children with mental illnesses were "neither being identified nor...

-The Economic Times To ensure Access to healthcare for all, India must harness innovation in discovering drugs, in developing therapeutics and in delivering affordable healthcare. It is in the light of these facts that one should evaluate the impact of the Indian Supreme Court's ruling in the case involving patent protection for Novartis AG's cancer drug, Glivec. Glivec was the first-of-its-kind cancer drug for leukaemia patients with patent protection in nearly 40...

-The Hindu In its latest form, the National Food Security Bill, 2013 promises to address the extreme irony of an ambitious nation holding mountains of food in storage, while masses of its people are undernourished or even starving. The right to food is finally on the threshold of being legislated. Every step taken to widen the coverage of food security schemes is an advance. Yet, the empirical truth is that...

-The Business Standard Interview with Founder chairman of Cancer Patients Aid Association Though the legal battle over Glivec's patentability may be over for now, Y K Sapru, the man spearheading the fight against Swiss multinational Novartis, isn't resting. Sapru, founder chairman of Cancer Patients Aid Association, or CPAA (which moved the Supreme Court to keep the prices of the cancer drug low), tells Sushmi Dey what the judgment means to cancer patients....