Archive for August, 2007
Continuing Troubles with the Indian Patent Act: Is Novartis On Drugs?
The Hindu has an exceptional article on the recent Novartis case in India, titled “Do Indian Patent Laws Stifle Research?” that reveals the true story behind Novartis’ failure to secure a patent for its cancer drug, Gleevec. As it turns out, Novartis took a gamble by applying for the patent not in 1993 - when [...]
India Spending Big Time on Wheat and War Planes: Role of Govt
India has floated two major tenders that have everybody drooling.
The first, is for 530,000 tons of wheat, announced a week ago. Imports by India, along with Japan and Taiwan have pushed wheat prices to record highs on the Chicago Board of Trade (see chart). This import of wheat is ironic, for just a year ago [...]
Concluding The Indo-US Nuclear Deal: Moving Beyond Blame
All hell has broken loose in the Indian parliament since the 123 Agreement was concluded between India and the USA. Following its conclusion the UPA government faces rebellion from the Left (the communists), the right (the BJP), and within. The imbroglio has been sufficiently covered in both domestic and international media, and seems to the [...]
Microfinance Misses its Mark
In a comprehensive article on the reputed Stanford Social Innovation Review (SSIR), Aneel Karnani debunks all the hoopla surrounding microfinance. His conclusion is clear - “microfinance doesn’t cure poverty.”
Novartis Moves Out: India Drug Market to Grow to $20 billion
More drama from Novartis in India.
First, Novartis’ objection to the Intellectual Property Appellate Board (IAPB) on the appointment of Mr. Chandrasekaran has been rejected. This is a further setback to its legal challenge to the Glivec patent decision (covered here).
Second, CNNMoney, amongst others, is reporting that Novartis has decided to move “hundreds of millions of [...]
The Indo-US Nuclear Deal: Epilogue in Parliament
On the Indian National Interest (a conservative blog), Nitin asks “why is it surprising the The Hindu changes tack and now advocates ‘putting the nuclear deal on hold’?”
To look for the answer, I would suggest reading the article itself, which is by far the best analysis of the deal thus far (see also my previous [...]
Book Review: Required Readings on India
Books on India are a dime a dozen these days. But while much of the attention has been focused either on fiction writers, in the vien of Jhumpa Lahiri or Amitav Ghosh, or on the economic success of India, a series of books have been published in the last months that analyze India’s polity and [...]
Interview with Benazir Bhutto
YaleGlobal Online is carrying an interview (full transcript)with Benazir Bhutto, on her (not so) secret discussions with Musharraf earlier this year. For Indians it makes interesting reading on two counts.
First, she talks of abandoning a policy of “strategic depth” in Pakistan, as a hedge against Indian influence. Instead:
She said that she rejected the policy of [...]
