-Firstpost.com Development economist Jean Dreze has been vociferous critic of the Narendra Modi government's demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes a year back. He had famously warned that "demonetisation in a booming economy is like shooting at the tyres of a racing car". A year on, it seems his caution has come true. In the first quarter of the current financial year, the GDP growth slowed to a three-year...

-PTI Chennai: Torrential rains for about ten hours overnight halted normal life in Tamil Nadu’s capital and neighbouring districts of Kancheepuram and Tiruvallur. Schools and colleges—already closed since 31 October due to rains—have been shut today as well in Chennai, Kancheepuram and Tiruvallur districts. The India Meteorological Department forecast heavy to very heavy showers in north coastal Tamil Nadu till Saturday. It said Thursday's low-pressure area over Sri Lanka and adjoining south West Bay...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: A group of Indian doctors has urged the Narendra Modi government to resist any US government or industry pressure to reverse its decisions earlier this year to impose price caps on coronary stents and knee implants. The Association of Doctors for Ethical Practices (ADEH) said on Wednesday that it is hoping the Indian government will "remain firm" on its decision to cap the prices of the devices because...

-The Indian Express Move to criminalise cyber speech will add impunity to power How to police a cyber space that has acquired the instincts of Frankenstein’s monster? In pursuit of answers, an expert committee submitted an interim report to the Union Home Ministry a couple of weeks ago. The recommended amendments to the Indian Penal Code (IPC) are noteworthy for two reasons. One, they bring within the ambit of IPC (through amendments...

-Down to Earth Why did we grant Pfizer's claim on a pneumonia vaccine which has been rejected elsewhere? In august, the medical and public health fraternity was stunned when India’s Patent Office granted US pharma giant Pfizer’s claim on its vaccine against pneumonia, the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV), marketed as Prevnar13. For a country that has stricter patentability criteria than most others, India’s decision was baffling because Pfizer’s patent has been rejected...