Three Indian drug companies have been named to supply AIDS medication to the Clinton Foundation for use in African and Caribbean countries under an agreement brokered by the former president, it was announced on Thursday. Under the deal, Mumbai's Cipla, Delhi 's Ranbaxy Laboratories, and Hyderabad 's Matrix Laboratories, will supply AIDS antiretroviral (ATV) drugs at about half the cost in India and at fraction of what the same cocktail would cost in the West. For example, one of the commonly used triple drug therapy combination will be available for just 36-to-38 cents per person per day or for less than $140 per person per year, while it costs nearly a dollar a day or about $ 365 a year even in developing countries such as India . The same combination used to cost upward of $ 10,000 per year in the United States although the prices have now been falling.

Courtesy: www.economictimes.com. October 30, 2003

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In a country where agriculture is in perpetual crisis, where suicides by debt-ridden farmers no longer make news and where field produce comes loaded with pesticide, here's the obvious question: Can farming be a profitable enterprise and yet it's produce be safe for consumption, its methods good for the soil and healthy for the environment? For Rajaram Tripathi, a banker-turned-farmer in the poverty-stricken tribal district of Bastar in Chhattisgarh, the answer is an equally obvious 'Yes'. He started farming from scratch six years ago and today has an annual turnover of Rs 9 crore. He doesn't use chemicals in his fields, and yet deploys modern techniques to increase his yield, keep his farms clean, green and ecologically healthy. He is a herbal farmer, a pioneer among a new breed of cultivators cashing in on the tremendous demand for herbal products all over the world and the corresponding shortage of rare herbs in the wild. He is also the perfect example of how innovative methods can transform an activity like agriculture - with its increasingly diminishing returns - into an ecologically sustainable and profitable venture.

The herb that has transformed Tripathi's life is safed musli (Chlorophytum borivilianum). Legend has it that the wonder herb was used in a concoction made by Rishi Chyawan, when the sage decided to marry at the age of 80. Thus was born Chyawanprash, the paste that invigorates. Safed musli, found in the wild in the Aravalli forests, is the principal ingredient of this Ayurvedic tonic for all-round health. In addition, Safed musli is used in 108 other Ayurvedic preparations. "Safed musli has been declared the 'Millennium crop'. But the Government needs to do a lot more to promote it. Right now, safed musli farming is being done in just 1,200 acres in the country. The demand is much more. So, more farmers should be encouraged to plant this herb. The demand can be gauged from the fact that ginseng is being sold at Rs 40,000 per kg and yet Rs 190 crore worth of the herb was consumed in the country," says Tripathi.

Courtesy: The Pioneer, October 19, 2003

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Literacy and urbanisation in India have a curious relationship, different from what is normally expected that high levels of urbanisation go with high levels of literacy. In India, it has been observed that high urbanisation leads to high literacy rates. However, even with low urban populations, the literacy rates are very high in some states. Consider the 10 most literate states in the country. The state with the highest literacy rate, Kerala, has an urban population as a percentage of total state population, below the national percentage. But Kerala's literacy rate is 91%, which is 25% above the Indian average of 65%. Its urban population is about 26% of Kerala's total population, 3% below India's average population of 29%. A similar situation is observed for states, which rank between five and ten in terms of literacy rates as well - Gujarat, Uttaranchal, TN, Tripura and HP. The most glaring of these is the case of HP. While it boasts of a literate population of more than 77%, its urban population as a percentage of total state population is below 10%, the lowest among all states. States with a high urban population as a percentage of total state population - Delhi, Goa, Mizoram, Tamil Nadu, are tied at the second to fourth highest levels of literacy (see figure). It has to be noted that all the states with urban population percentage above the national average, have literacy rates above average India's literacy rates.

Courtesy: The Economic Times, October 17, 2003

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New Delhi: In yet another recognition of India's scientific genius, a 14-year-old Delhi boy has been chosen as a 'Student Astronaut' to participate in NASA's ongoing project on Mars exploration. Saatvik Agarwal, a standard X student at Amity International School in South Delhi, is among the 16 students selected from all over the world through a global contest and would spend about two weeks at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory -- NASA's lead centre for robotic exploration of the solar system based at Pasadena, California. He will work together with NASA scientists and other Student Astronauts as part of the Science Operations Working Group between January-March 2004.To prepare for his stint at NASA, Saatvik is undergoing intensive web-based training about the US agency's Mars exploration mission 'Red Rover Goes to Mars' besides Mars science, digital image processing and mission operations. The boy had earlier won the 'Original Mind' award instituted by Infosys Foundation and an award for his website on space, given by Kiran Bedi's India Vision Foundation.

Courtesy: The Times of India, October 14, 2003

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Paris, October 13: N.R. Narayana Murthy, chairman of the software giant, Infosys, today became the first recipient of the newly-instituted Indo-French Forum Medal. The medal, in recognition of Mr. Murthy's role in promoting Indo-French ties, was awarded by the French Prime Minister, Jean-Pierre Raffarin, here today. The special ceremony at the Prime Minister's office was attended by Indian and French members of the forum as well as the Ambassadors of the two countries.

Expressing admiration for the ``great achievements'' of Mr. Murthy in the software field, Mr. Raffarin recalled that the Indian began his career in France when he worked at the Charles de Gaulle airport, helping systemise cargo operations. Mr. Raffarin who visited the Infosys and Bangalore during his official trip to India earlier this year, said he had been struck by India's mix of modernity and tradition. Mr. Murthy, the French Premier said, symbolised this blend of old and new. He said India and France should pool their resources and create synergies to deal with new challenges of a social and technological nature.

Courtesy: The Hindu, October 14, 2003

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New Delhi, October 11: India is preparing to go in for Phase-I clinical trials in March next year for a preventive HIV vaccine developed by a scientist of the National Institute of Cholera and Enteric Diseases (NICED), Kolkata, in collaboration with a U.S.-based biotechnology company. With this, India would join the global effort in finding a vaccine that would prevent healthy, unaffected people from being infected with HIV. Trials are on in parts of the world with no breakthrough yet. India is estimated to have about four million people afflicted with HIV at the end of 2002. The Phase-I trial, involving administration of the MVA (Modified Vaccinia Ankara) HIV-1 subtype C vaccine for the first time to humans in India would be conducted with 13 healthy volunteers in the age group of 18-50 to determine the efficacy of the vaccine. It would be conducted at the National AIDS Research Institute (NARI) Pune, under a tripartite agreement between the National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO), the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI). Other areas would later be Chennai and the north east.

Courtesy: The Hindu, October 12, 2003

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Mumbai, October 6: Indian women are not behind others in the world of business. Investment banking guru Naina Lal Kidwai and Jumbo group chairperson Vidya Chhabria have moved up in the Fortune list of World's 50 most powerful corporate women, proving that Indian women are a force to reckon with in the global business arena. The 'International power 50' is composed of women who have an operating role in business profit outside the US, and not those who merely exercise shareholding power.

Chhabria successfully took over the reigns of the two billion-dollar Jumbo group after her husband Manu Chhabria's death last year. She runs the group's 28 business with the help of two of her three daughters and its flagship business, the Dubai-based Jumbo Electronics, is the largest distributor of Sony products in the world. The Jumbo group's Indian companies have interests in brewing and supply-chain management. Kidwai made her name at Morgan Stanley, which she joined in 1994 after a stint at ANZ Grindlay's Bank. She engineered a joint venture with investment bank JM Financial, making the firm one of the largest in financial services sector in India. Fortune also published a list of "American power 50" women, which includes an America-based Indian, Indra Nooyi, the president and chief financial officer of Pepsico. Nooyi is ranked eighth in the list.

Courtesy: The Indian Express, October 07, 2003

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Ahmedabad, October 6: To create a market for superior khadi products and achieve a synergy between craftsmen of different countries, the National Institute of Design (NID) has decided to market khadi in neighbouring countries like Sri Lanka, Pakistan and SAARC countries like Malayasia, Indonesia etc. The move comes in the wake of the launch of the Afri-khadi range, produced in co-operation with Indian and South African craftsmen, which led to ''generation of a synergy of ideas''. The ''designer khadi products'' will be sold through traditional khadi shops as well as lifestyle stores in the countries in order to attract youths. Stores like Westside, ITDC showrooms at hotels, Ebony, Carbon and others are being considered to sell the products.

Courtesy: The Indian Express, October 07, 2003

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New York, October 6: An Associate professor of biomedical engineering at Boston University, Tejal Desai has been named one of the 10 most brilliant scientists in the US for 2003 by Popular Science magazine. She is the only Indian-American on the list. Desai, 31, was listed for her groundbreaking work in tissue engineering. Her PhD project was to build an implantable device that would help diabetics get rid of daily insulin injections to control blood-sugar levels. The article recounts Desai's success story and describes her tenacity in achieving what many thought was an impossible project when she started work on her PhD at University of California, Berkeley. Earlier, she graduated with a degree in biomedical engineering from Brown. Her colleagues warned her the task was too hard, that she would never graduate. But after four years of coaxing cells to grow on chemically modified silicon surfaces, Desai has it: a microscopic device that, when implanted in diabetic rats, delivers ongoing, regular doses of insulin. Next she plans to build better artificial blood vessels. The existing variety-mere tubes-cannot constrict or dilate as natural vessels do to control blood pressure. Desai's goal is to make artificial vessels which coax the patient's own body to grow replacements, then biodegrade, leaving the new natural vessels behind.

Courtesy: The Indian Express, October 07, 2003

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This year is proving to be unusually good for India-almost a fairytale one for sports-lovers and sportsmen, whether they be tennis, hockey or squash players, footballers, shooters, weightlifters, wrestlers or golfers. Anju Bobby George's historic bronze at the World Champ-ionship and Sania Mirza's Wimble-don juniors doubles crown are worth particular mention. The Dhanraj Pillay-led hockey team's performance at the Men's Challenge in Sydney, the Hamburg Masters in Germany and the Asia Cup Championship has raised hopes of a revival in the fortunes of India's national game. The good show is not confined to sport alone. Commerce Minister Arun Jaitley's tough negotiating skills were on display at Cancun, enabling India to emerge as the leader of the developing countries. Our burgeoning $ 80 billion foreign exchange reserves, (more than Pakistan's GDP) and the BSE index, about to touch the 4500 mark, show our economy is in robust health. We had a very good monsoon, as a result of which our economy is expected to grow by more than six per cent this fiscal. With pro-active strategies, better coordination, improved intelligence gathering and local support, our security forces have had great successes against terrorists. In Operation Sarp Vinash, they took out 65 terrorists with negligible casualties on our side. The killing of Ghazi Baba, the brain behind the attack on Parliament, was another victory. We are also seeing dynamism and pragmatism in our foreign policy, which has been weighed down by ideological and moral grandstanding. Coming out of the Cold War mentality, we have cemented ties with the US and Israel, without alienating Russia or the Arab countries. We have isolated Pakistan by improving relations with China and playing our cards deftly in Afghanistan. Swami Vivekanand once said India would one day make its past glory look pale. Every Indian must contribute to making this prophecy a reality.

Courtesy: The Pioneer, September 06, 2003

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Mumbai, October 3: Terrorism and terrorist attacks have not deterred tourists from visiting India. In fact India's rating as a popular tourist destination has gone up from 11 to 7, according to Conde Nast Traveller, a UK-based travel magazine. In a survey carried out by the magazine amongst its 26,000 readers worldwide for 2002-03, India scored for its cultural wealth and heritage. India stood first in the value-for-money category and also scored high for its cultural diversity. In fact foreign tourist arrivals during January to August 2003 recorded an increase of 14.2 per cent over the same period of the previous year. Foreign exchange earnings through foreign tourists during the period recorded an increase of 19.3 per cent over the corresponding period of the previous year, says the magazine. "One industry estimate clearly suggest that the these seven months have witnessed a 12-14 per cent growth in tourist arrivals over last year and the inflow of tourist traffic is expected to cross the 2.6 m recorded in 2000.

Courtesy: The Asian Age, October 04, 2003

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Singapore, Maurutuius, Sri Lanka and some other countries of West and South East Asia are now turning towards India for askance. The centre has proposed to establish units of the premier engineering institute IIT overseas in the wake of growing demands for IIT campuses. Student intake in IITs in the country has shot up by nearly 10,000 students over the last five years. The government plans to launch a 500 crore national programme for HRD in IT with the objective to overhaul the entire engineering education and make it IT enabled in order to help it meet the challenges being posed by globalization. The Govt also proposes to launch another 11.54 crore programme for ensuring quality text books in technical education.

Courtesy: The Statesman, October 03, 2003