-Down to Earth It provides farmers with services to improve productivity and find better prices A non-profit based in Telangana, working on agricultural research and development, has launched a low-cost phone cum tablet computer-phablet-to benefit small holder farmers. "GreenPHABLET will allow information to be precisely targeted to individual smallholder farmers, helping them to purchase inputs at a lower price and get a better price for their produce. It will also link them to...

-The Hindu Business Line But manufacturers want subsidy regime to end in order to improve production Kolkata: To curb black-marketing in urea, the Centre in December released a "record" 3.7 million tonnes (mt) into the market, by stepping up imports. The usual monthly requirement of the fertiliser, whose supply is regulated, is 2.5-3 mt. The demand for urea peaks towards end December and early January. India produces approximately 22 mt of urea against the...

-The Hindu In a significant development for the pharmaceutical industry, the Supreme Court has rejected multinational Bayer's appeal to block production and sales of the low cost version of its kidney cancer drug, sorafenib tosylate (branded as Nexavar), by Natco Pharmaceuticals. Hyderabad-based Natco was granted the first and to date only compulsory licence (CL) by the government in 2012 to make and sell a patented drug at a fraction of the...

-Down to Earth Sixty-four countries are on track to meet Millennium Development Goal of reversing the incidence of malaria, according to a WHO report WHO's World Malaria Report 2014 has reported a significant decrease in deaths due to malaria. Mortality rates due to the disease have reduced by 47 per cent worldwide and 54 per cent in the WHO African region. The report estimates that of approximately 4.3 million deaths averted between 2001...

-The Hindu India ranks 85 among 178 countries on the global Corruption Perception Index this year. India has marginally improved its ranking on the global Corruption Perception Index this year, on the back of prosecutions of high-level officials and hope that the new leadership will reduce corruption, Transparency International said on Wednesday morning. India's two-point improvement (on a total possible score of 100) did not count as a "significant change" unlike that in...