Environment ministry rapped
Parliament committee says serious inadequacies in afforestation, biodiversity programmes
Biotech industry has a new patron
Department of Biotechnology is playing venture capitalist to private companies to push biotech research in agriculture
Unholy smoke!
Inclusion of intellectual property in bilateral investment agreements is injurious to the health of developing nations
Testing the CL route
Roche’s Herceptin will be a test case for government and generics industry as India readies to issue compulsory licences for life-saving drugs
World Trade Outcry
How inevitable was the collapse of talks at the World Trade Organization? How engineered was it? CLIFFORD POLYCARP reports from the streets and …
Trade barred
Countries protect their renewable energy equipment. Exporting nations see it as trade barrier
Has Modi succumbed US’ pressure on patents?
Prime minister’s statement, agreeing to implement recommendations of India-US joint working group on intellectual property, would make …
EU threat to farmers
Free trade pact with EU will have a severe impact on Indian agriculture, specially the dairy sector
Fall of a premier institute
Amid funds siphoning allegations, future of National Institute of Pharma Education seems bleak
‘PESTICIDES’ IN DRUGS
Sharad Pawar’s provision for protecting test data in the Pesticides Bill could spill over into trade agreements and hit the drugs industry, too
Wooing the judges, openly
There is conflict of interest as US patent owners schedule meetings with Indian judiciary and patent regulators
US pharma strikes back
Upset by the Supreme Court’s endorsement of India’s patent law, the American drug industry is lobbying with Obama to tighten the …
Big step for biocultural rights
The Nagoya Protocol promotes community stewardship of genetic resources. India needs to foster this
Copyright issues impinge on democracy
Siva Vaidhyanathan says he holds a debt to copyright regimes. Studying these systems, allowed him to explore cultural interactions in Afro-…
Break the Deadlock
In 1995, many in India were outraged to learn that a university in the US was granted a patent to make and sell haldi (turmeric) for its wound …
Software freedom
On Richard Stallman's personal homepage it says, "America means civil liberties. Patriotism is protecting them." Words that sum up the …
EU legislation - The wrong note
The music industry is crying out loud against eu legislation for protecting intellectual property, complaining that it falls short of what is …
What's the fuss about Bt brinjal?
Mohammad Rafiqul Islam Mondal, director-general of Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI), is among the handful of people who have …
Fig leaf for the business world
That is what the Montreal Protocol, meant to do away with ozone depleting substances, has become. India's phase out programme under the protocol …
Non-profit diseases
There is a logic to the idea of neglected diseases. Historically the diseases poor people get--largely in the poorer parts of the world--haven't …
A treaty too many
India is learning that there is a heavy price to be paid for the large number of bilateral investment treaties, or BITs, it has signed in the …
Future compromised
The Earth Summit was a historical opportunity to set the world on the correct development trajectory. Negotiators from 191 countries came …
The hunt for benefits
India is hailed as a pioneer in implementing the third objective of the Convention on Biological Diversity—fair and equitable sharing of …