'We have often heard the mythical argument that patents block access to life-saving drugs, but only 5% of medicines from multinational companies are under patent protection in India.' 'Where these patented products are beyond the reach of Indian patients, the companies have programmes to facilitate access to their drugs, for free or for a fraction of the price,' points out Ranjana Smetacek, former director general, Organisation of Pharmaceutical Producers of India.
Rather than worry about what picture of India is being painted in the foreign media, the focus must be on marshalling all our energies to provide relief and solace to our deeply wounded and dispirited citizens, says former foreign secretary Shyam Saran.
The senior Congress leader opined that the situation in Assam can now be divided into two phases -- pre-CAA and post-CAA, and it was necessary to unite all anti-CAA forces in order to protect the ethos of the Assam Accord.
Addressing a session at the Future Investment Initiative 2019 here, Modi said India offers a huge investment opportunity in the infrastructure sector also as he emphasised that the country aims to be a $ 5 trillion economy in the next five years.
On August 31, a fresh report was supposed to be submitted, and his plea for bail on health grounds was to be decided. Before that could happen, the 81-year-old poet was stealthily discharged and taken back to the Taloja jail hospital on August 25. Not even his lawyer on record, Advocate Satyanarayanan, was informed.
'Physically, he was a strong man, but given to moments of emotional weakness.' 'He had to be put back on the right track by the women in his life.'
This must be the first time in India's history that it has found itself bracketed with countries in a category which political scientists will not rate very highly if only because the group recalls Nazi Germany as one of its most infamous past members, notes Amulya Ganguli.
It is difficult to recall an Indian minister in modern times pushing back at the US publicly, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
The Railway Board and employees at Integral Coach Factory in Chennai, makers of the train, are at loggerheads over the proposed transfer of design and reassigning the manufacturing of Train 18 to Modern Coach Factory in Raebareli.
Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on Wednesday said India will be benefitted economically by having peace with his country as it will enable New Delhi to directly access the resource-rich Central Asia region through Pakistani territory.
Industry fears tougher US stance on IP after President Donald Trump asserted that foreign countries must pay a fair share for drug development costs. Aneesh Phadnis reports.
Rakesh Jhunjhunwala-backed Nazara Technologies is all set to hit the primary market with its Rs 583-crore IPO on Wednesday. The diversified and online gaming firm's three-day issue will run through March 17-19 and will be entirely an offer for sale (OFS). While 5.29 million equity shares will be offloaded via OFS by some of the shareholders, Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, who owns 3.29 million shares or 11.51 per cent stake in the company as of September 30, 2020, has decided to hold on to his stake. The issue has a price band of Rs 1,100-1,101 and will be available in lots of 13 shares and multiples thereof.
With his eye on next year's Party Congress, Xi Jinping is using the CCP's centenary celebrations to publicise the benefits for China from its leadership, and boost his image and contribution to China's rise, observes Jayadeva Ranade, the distinguished China expert and retired RA&W officer.
Indian cities need a new intellectual underpinning.
Every film that Sriram Raghavan makes is a compendium of ideas and sensations that tickle him. Trying to remake a Sriram Raghavan film is like getting excited by somebody else's goosebumps, observes Sreehari Nair.
The challenge for India will be to ensure the law does not get out of step with the demands of a country that needs foreign investment and new technologies.
Delivering the 66th convocation address at the Panjab University, the vice president said a university should never seek to silence or influence faculty members or students to adopt or renounce any particular position.
Munde, whose party is a key ally in the Shiv Sena-led Maha Vikas Aghadi government, has made the demand in a letter written to Thackeray on Monday.
'Rabindranath Tagore, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar and Swami Vivekananda, all wanted and argued for a united Bengali culture, and there is no room in their social objective for trying to excite one community against another'
'A lot of young people, especially women, usually go on in their career path thinking to just put their head down and work hard, and the opportunities will come to them.' 'The only reason I became CEO of Vimeo was because I was pushing to create an opportunity to take the company into a different direction.'
The place, a melting pot of people from the world of art and culture for decades, had downed its shutters on March 20 this year after the West Bengal government imposed a lockdown.
The idea is to incorporate global best practices in the Indian context.
Apple had taken Shanghai-based Zhizhen Internet Technology and China's State Intellectual Property Office to court to seek a ruling that Zhizhen's patent rights to a speech recognition technology were invalid.
Trump is demanding China to reduce the $375 billion trade deficit and protection of Intellectual Property Rights, technology transfer and more access to American goods to Chinese markets.
Sandeep Modi's Chumbak spins a magical web around you, says Prasanna D Zore.
Bhumi Pednekar and Konkona Sen Sharma's ode to sisterhood, Robert Pattinson's amusing accent, Satyajit Ray's many masterpieces, Steven Soderbergh's breakout indie, Mark Ruffalo's good fight -- all this and more on Sukanya Verma's recommendation list on OTT this week.
'No country can ever be free to make its choices and remain independent if it continues to wear borrowed plumes,' warn Lieutenant General Ashok Joshi (retd) and Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
Biden said that 100 days since he took the oath of office on January 20 and inherited the worst pandemic in a century and the worst economic crisis in a decade, America is on the move again, turning peril into possibility, crisis into opportunity and setback into strength.
'Saibaba has 19 ailments, including severe heart and kidney problems.' 'Even healthy persons find their systems failing after Covid.' 'What will happen to someone like Saibaba?', Professor G N Saibaba's wife asks Jyoti Punwani.
'The cow can always be the CAUSE.' 'Cause for murder. Cause for setting India's people against each other.' 'Not recognising the fact that this can tip the country into an unending spiral of civil strife and set the much-vaunted 'India story' back by years is the ultimate stupidity of all,' says Shuma Raha.
The BJP MLA was apparently referring to an incident in Kerala last year, where a group of men slaughtered a cow in the open, triggering a controversy.
Mohammad Sajjad profiles Professor Riazur Rahman Sherwani, 94, versatile mind, intrepid intellectual.
India and the US on Sunday agreed to enhance their engagement on intellectual property rights, a vexed issue between the two countries.
Brace yourself for some tongue-in-cheek advice on how to play smart when you're caught in intellectual company.
'Tamhane's densely composed shots achieve what a vacuously whizzing camera seldom does.' 'Like those Renaissance Paintings in which a bewitching lady is shown posing for a portrait, and daily life plays out in a corner unruffled, Tamhane's static frames have a hundred interesting things happening within them,' observes Sreehari Nair.
Snooping is one of the oldest peccadilloes of man, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
India has a huge trade surplus with US - over $20 billion a year in the past five years.
Experts said attempts from China have increased in the last year, which further amplified after the Indian government banned Chinese applications post the Galwan clash.
'Whatever else may or may not happen, China and its people are likely to pay a very heavy price for the lack of transparency of its Communist regime,' predicts Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
'Everywhere Anil Dharker went, he assembled teams of talented people, gave them opportunities, then got out of the way and allowed them to flourish.' Meenakshi Shedde remembers a very special editor.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances