Tuesday, March 13, 2012

HEADLINES

• Budget session of Parliament starts on a subdued note; UPA holding dinner to meet with all the allies
• Vijay Bahuguna (for judge of the HC) is the new Uttarakund Chief Minister
• PepsiCo may be searching for potential successors to Indra Nooyi
• Tigress gives birth in the Panna Tiger reserve; tiger count in Panna up to 16 now

NATIONAL NEWS

• Rs.2.84 lakh cancer drug will soon cost Rs.8,880
  • Cancer-treatment drug Nexavar will soon be available at Rs. 8,880 per pack of 120 tablets. Bayer, a German multi-national, currently holds the patent for Nexavar (the brand name of sorafenib tosylate), which now sells at Rs.2.84 lakh;
  • The way for such a huge reduction in the price is cleared with India invoking a World Trade Organisation (WTO) provision and permitting the Hyderabad-based Natco Pharma to make sorafenib tosylate, which is used to treat kidney and liver cancer;
  • The Indian Controller-General of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks granted the first ever ‘compulsory licence' in India to generic drug-maker Natco for making sorafenib tosylate. This is the first time that the country's patent law is being used to permit generic production when a drug is ‘unaffordable';
  • Natco had sought ‘compulsory licence' under Section 84 of the Indian Patent Act. Under the WTO agreement, a compulsory licence can be invoked by a national government to allow someone else to make a patented product or process without the consent of the patent owner.
• Cotton exports ban lifted; exports to China under the scanner
  • Even as the Director-General of Foreign Trade issued a fresh notification lifting the ban on cotton exports, the government is set to launch a probe into the “self consignments,” mostly to China, and scrutinise the export receipt certificates (ERCs) to get to the root of the sudden spurt of cotton exports that caught it unawares;
  • Following strong protests by Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar and the Congress units of Maharashtra and Gujarat, the government announced the revocation of the ban.
• PM turns down the resignation of members of the National Ganga River Basin Authority
  • The Prime Minister's Office has asked Magsaysay Award winner Rajendra Singh – better known as Waterman -- to re-consider his resignation from the NGRBA;
  • Rajendra Singh and his Authority colleagues Ravi Chopra and R. H. Siddiqi had quit two days ago in protest against alleged indifference of the Central Government towards protection of the Ganga river;
  • Singh heads the Ganga Authority, set up in 2009 to clean up the holy river and protecting its minimum ecological flow while ensuring the water quality and environmental sustenance. The Union Minister for Environment & Forest communicated the decision of the PMO.
• States want to be effective stakeholders in counter-terrorism domain
  • While agreeing in principle on the need to have an effective anti-terrorism mechanism on the lines of the proposed National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC), almost all States on Monday emphasised the need to make them an “effective stakeholder'' in all aspects of counter-terrorism domain;
  • At a day-long meeting of the State police chiefs, Chief Secretaries and Home Secretaries, presided over by Union Home Secretary R. K. Singh, top officials wanted more consultations with the State governments and reworking of modalities before making the counter-terror hub operational. Differences still exist over the powers to search and arrest being extended to the NCTC, as the states feel it encroaches on their powers.
• National Rural Health Mission to become National Health Mission
  • The Govt proposes to convert the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) into a National Health Mission to provide health care to the urban poor also, in the course of the 12th Plan.
• Tiger Reserve to be notified soon in Andhra Pradesh
  • The AP Govt is likely to issue a notification upgrading the Kawal Wildlife Sanctuary (KWS) in Adilabad district as Kawal Tiger Reserve (KTR) sometime in April;
  • The notification for KTR, India's 41st tiger reserve, has been delayed owing to the uncertain political situation in the region and the current by-elections.
• Presidential reference of 2G could place older licences at risk
  • The Govt's proposed Presidential reference seeking a review of the Supreme Court judgment cancelling 122 telecom licences is likely to stir up serious torment for telecom players by questioning whether or not all the licences and linked spectrum granted since 1994 using methodologies other than auctions are illegal;
  • The Govt specifically wants to know whether the SC's January judgment implies that licences granted on the principle of first come first served since 2001 have a legal standing. It has also questioned the legality of the dual technology licences awarded in 2008;
  • The Govt is yet to finalise his decision about the presidential reference.
• Bombay HC asks the CBI why no arrests yet in the Adarsh case

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

• Salt loving wheat could ease food crisis
  • Plant scientists said they had bred a strain of wheat that thrives in saline soils, boosting the quest to feed Earth's growing population at a time of water stress and climate change;
  • Durum wheat with a salt-loving gene had yields which were up to 25 per cent greater than ordinary counterparts, according to trials carried out in highly saline fields. Durum wheat — Triticum turgidum — is used for making pasta, bulgur and couscous. It is more salt-sensitive than bread wheat ( Triticum aestivum );
  • The gene, called TmHKT1;5-A, helps remove sodium from the water that is transported from the plant's roots to the leaves, said a research team led by Matthew Gilliham of the University of Adelaide, southern Australia;
  • Spotted in a scan of ancestral wheat strains, TmHKT1;5-A was inserted into a commercial strain by traditional cross-breeding, not through genetic engineering, which is contested in many countries;
  • Salinity is already a bad problem in arid and semi-arid developing countries where soils are naturally salty or irrigation water has a high level of salt. This could help the world keep pace with the growing demands for foodgrain. This would particularly help Japan where the seawater which flooded the country after the tsunami has left lots of salts in the ground.

EDITORIALS, OPINIONS & COLUMNS

• Read this article on what is needed from the upcoming railway budget
• Read this article on the stimuli needed for the Indian economy