India open to widest cyber security pact, says Prasad Stent production should match that of past 3 months: NPPA
H1B visa concerns conveyed to the US
The government to open for international collaboration on cyber security, and favours handling issue of cyber terrorism in cooperation with other countries, Information Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said on Tuesday. “India is willing to have the widest cooperation world over in the quest of cyber security,” Prasad said at an international conference on e-governance here.”
The ministry of electronics and information technology has organised the three-day 10th International Conference on Theory and Practice of Electronic Governance (ICEGOV) 2017, in collaboration with United Nations University and UNESCO. “If (the) internet has to remain powerful, it must be safe and secure. (A) few people are using digital technology for terrorism, for hatred, for extremism, and we need to work together,” Prasad said.
He said the internet shouldn’t become the monopoly of a few. “Therefore, the right of its access must be without discrimination. In order to become truly global, it must have link with the local.”
The minister said India would be the voice of moderation, reason and assimilation as far as the internet discourse was concerned. “Let me make it clear, India would be voice of assertion in favour of those who are digitally deprived, digitally discriminated because 'Digital India' is designed to bridge the gap between digital haves and digital have-nots,” Prasad said.
Besides Prasad, Maria Manuel Leitao Marques, Portugal’s minister of presidency and administrative modernisation; P Chaudhary, minister of state for IT, Cabinet Secretary P K Sinha and IT Secretary Aruna Sundararajan were present at the event. Seven countries are taking part in the event.
Prasad said the government has conveyed its concerns to the US administration on the move to curb processing of H1B visas. “Concerns have been conveyed to USA. Indian IT companies have been servicing 75 per cent of Forbes companies,” the minister said, adding the whole IT movement was based on “sharing and reciprocity”.
The US had said last week it would be temporarily suspending premium processing of H1B visas from April 3, eliminating the option of a shorter waiting period for the programme that helps highly skilled foreigners work at US firms. Companies, under the current system, while submitting applications for H1B visas for potential employees can pay an additional sum for expedited service, which is known as premium processing. The temporary suspension could last up to six months according to the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). Meeting manufacturers to discuss the availability of stents in the market, the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) has asked them to ensure their production and distribution is on a par with their production in the three months before the price cap came into force. A manufacturer who attended the meeting told Business Standard the NPPA said the eight per cent margin was supposed to be for the manufacturer and distributor and not the hospital, unless it uses its registered pharmacy to source stents.
Last week, the regulator had invited 16 firms, including Abbott Healthcare, Boston Scientific India and Sahajanand Medical Technologies, for the meeting.
The government has invoked section 3(i) of the Drug Price Control Order (DPCO), 2013, making it obligatory for manufacturers to submit production reports to the NPPA for six months. Since stents are part of the National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM), no manufacturer can withdraw its stents from the market without a six-month notice to the pricing regulator.
The NPPA had mentioned there were a number of complaints from patients on the price of peripheral stents as well. Peripheral stents include renal stents and iliac stents, among others. Renal stents are used when a renal artery is clogged; blood flow to the kidneys is affected.
Stenting opens the blockage and restores normal blood flow. An iliac stent is a small wire mesh tube that is used to hold open an iliac artery that has been narrowed by artery disease (atherosclerosis). The largest artery in the body (the aorta) divides into the common iliac arteries.