Drug prices

In August, the drug pricing authority used its emergency powers to fix the maximum prices and trade margins of knee implants, lowering prices by up to 78%.

He also exposed profiteering by private hospitals in Delhi and the National Capital Region centred on the capital, saying the facilities were marking up prices of drugs, diagnostics and consumables by up to 1,700%.

Birender Sangwan, who petitioned the Delhi high court in 2014 for price regulation of stents, said Singh’s transfer would slow price control efforts. “He has been transferred too soon. During his tenure he reduced the prices of several drugs and medical devices. He was working for the welfare of the people and his unexpected removal from the post is likely to affect price regulation,” Sangwan said.

The All India Drug Action Network (AIDAN), a network of healthcare NGOs, has expressed concern over “the manner and timing” of the transfer. “He seems to have been pushed out with intervention of higher authorities which were upset by the NPPA’s move to further reduce the prices of stents. The broad public interest consideration under which NPPA was working to regulate medical device prices, speedy issuance of demand notices for overcharging and reporting trade margins were also factored into the decision,” said Malini Aisola, health researcher and co-convenor, of AIDAN.

“The untimely transfer reflects an attempt to interrupt the efforts of the NPPA in the direction of strengthening public access to medicines and health care,” she added.

Even the Association of Indian Medical Device Industry (AIMED), a lobby group of domestic medical devices manufacturers, said the move to transfer Singh was “not good for consumers”. “When good officers leave suddenly, it is disconcerting and not motivating for other officers,” said Rajiv Nath, forum coordinator of AIMED. environmental impact of the project for which 25,000 trees have been cut along 356 km of the routes.

“We need to strike a balance between development and conservation,” Union environment minister Harsh Vardhan said on Saturday in Dehradun.

Vardhan, however, defended the project, saying that India is perhaps one of the few countries that have reported an increase in its forest cover in the recent study of Forest Survey of India.

“We are the only country to have recorded 1% increase in forest cover. Our ministry strives to achieve the global targets as well and we are extremely cautious in taking the decision which should not hamper our ecosystem,” he had said.

He inaugurated UNESCO Category 2 Centre at the institute. The foundation stone was laid by former forest minister Prakash Javadekar in 2014.

The environmental lobby is however divided on the construction of a road in the upper Ganga basin. Mallika Bhanot, a former member of the monitoring committee on eco-sensitive zones, blamed the Centre for working in haste without doing homework.

“There is a limited tourism inflow in the Gangotri because of its high receding rate but on the other side the government is pushing for an all-weather road apparently to increase tourist flow. Both these ideas are contradictory,” Bhanot said.

On the other hand, Avdhash Kaushal, chairman of Doonbased NGO RLEK, said 40% villages in Uttarakhand are still without roads.

“Development and conservation should go hand in hand I am in complete favour of the road which will support the locals,” he claimed.

Incidentally, both the Congress and the BJP are on same side on developing the eco-sensitive zone. Both parties had opposed the notification on the ground that it will stop development in the Bhagirathi valley. The state assembly had unanimously passed a resolution asking the union government to recall the notification. 1998 and 1999, but has lost both times.

Through Manish, Congress is desperate to reclaim the seat that was once its bastion, and prove that its comeback is very much real, on a turf associated with the Gandhi clan even today.

Keshav Prasad Maurya had won the seat for the first time for BJP with a huge margin of 3.76 lakh votes in 2014. Among the total 22 candidates in the race there are nine independents including strongman-turnedpolitician Atiq Ahmed.

Atiq had been a Lok Sabha member from here in 2004, when he contested the elections on an SP ticket.

If Phulpur is a prestige issue for Maurya though he won it only once, Gorakhpur is much more crucial for chief minister Yogi Adityanath, who has been holding the seat since 1998 and won five elections on the trot. Yogi is also Mahant of the Gorakhnath Temple, which commands lakhs of devotees — who are also voters.

For 32 years, the seat has had the dominance of successive mahants of the Mutt — Digvijaynath, Avaidyanath and now Adityanath. For the last 29 years continuously, the seat has been with the temple.

Interestingly, this is the first time in 29 years that the BJP is fielding a candidate who is not a mahant or a nominee of the Mutt. The BJP candidate this time, Upendra Shukla, is a Brahmin face.

Eyeing to retain Gorakhpur seat for his party, CM Yogi Adityanath had frequently visited the town ever since he relinquished the seat, and has showered the constituency with numerous development projects. In the run-up to this election, he has held 14 public meetings. “Consider that it’s me who is contesting the elections,” Yogi has been saying while campaigning for Shukla. expand its footprint in the region. From Reunion Island to the naval base Héron in Djibouti, on the Horn of Africa, to Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, France has key naval bases. Modi described France as one of India’s “most trusted defence partners.”

Macron said defence cooperation between the two countries “now has a new significance,” stressing that a “a strong part of our security and the world’s stability is at stake in the Indian Ocean.” In an apparent reference to China, Macron said, “The Indian Ocean, like the Pacific Ocean, cannot become a place of hegemony.”

Over 90% of India’s trade by volume and 68% of trade by value is via the Indian Ocean, where China has been wooing littoral states in an attempt to increase its strategic footprint.

The joint strategic vision for Indian Ocean calls for France and India committing “to utilizing every opportunity of their naval ships calling at each other’s ports for holding passage exercises.”

“In order to widen and deepen strategic naval cooperation, India and France will be open to inviting strategic partner countries in the region to participate in Indo-French exercises”, the vision document said.

“India occupies a central position in the Indo-Pacific, given its coastline of 7,500 kms, more than 1,380 islands and two million sq. km of Exclusive Economic Zone. It plays a pivotal role for the peace, security and prosperity of the region. France, a State of the Indian Ocean rim, is an important player in this region”, the document said, explaining the two countries’ mutual interest in the region.

The raft of agreements signed on Saturday covers defence, space, education, security and clean energy.