📰 The French connections
The Macron visit underlined the growing strategic convergence that draws India and France together
•With French President Emmanuel Macron’s recent visit to India, the India-France Strategic Partnership launched in 1998 seems finally to have come of age. In these two decades, both sides have gradually enhanced cooperation in diverse fields covering civil nuclear, defence, space, counter-terrorism, education, research and development in science and technology, culture, urban development, climate change, trade and economics and people-to-people contacts. The slew of bilateral agreements and memoranda of understanding signed, the detailed ‘joint statement’ and accompanying ‘vision statements’ on cooperation in space and the Indian Ocean Region, the boat ride in Varanasi, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s warmly reciprocated diplohugs indicate that the relationship has received a momentum that gives it critical mass and greater coherence.
A shared world view
•As a country that has prided itself on its ‘exceptionalism’, France has always been sympathetic to similar Indian claims based on its ancient civilisation. This is why both countries were quick to voice support for global multi-polarity once the Cold War ended. French discomfort with the U.S.’s unipolar moment in the 1990s was evident when it described it as a ‘hyperpower’.
•Defence cooperation with France began in the 1950s when India acquired the Ouragan aircraft and continued with the Mystères, Jaguar (Anglo-French), Mirage 2000, Alizè planes and the Alouette helicopter. Joint naval exercises, later christened Varuna, date back to 1983.
•Cooperation in the space sector has continued since the 1960s when France helped India set up the Sriharikota launch site, followed by liquid engine development and hosting of payloads. Today, it is a relationship of near equals and the ‘vision statement’ refers to world class joint missions for space situational awareness, high resolution earth observation missions with applications in meteorology, oceanography and cartography. Inter-planetary exploration and space transportation systems are cutting edge science and technology areas that have also been identified.
•Yet the Cold War imposed limitations on the partnership. After the Cold War, France decided that its preferred partner in the Indian Ocean Region would be India. In January 1998, President Jacques Chirac declared that India’s exclusion from the global nuclear order was an anomaly that needed to be rectified. After the nuclear tests in May 1998 when India declared itself a nuclear weapon state, France was the first major power to open dialogue and displayed a far greater understanding of India’s security compulsions compared to other countries. It was the first P-5 country to support India’s claim for a permanent seat in an expanded and reformed UN Security Council.
Building a partnership
•With the establishment of a Strategic Dialogue, cooperation in defence, civil nuclear, space, intelligence sharing and counter-terrorism has grown. An agreement for building six Scorpène submarines in India with French help was signed in 2005. Similarly, technology sharing and acquisitions of short range missiles and radar equipment were concluded. Joint exercises between the air forces and the armies were instituted in 2003 and 2011, respectively. The government-to-government agreement for 36 Rafale aircraft, salvaged out of the prolonged negotiations for the original 126 which were at an impasse, was as much driven by technical requirements as by political considerations. The ambitious offset target of 50% (nearly Rs. 25,000 crore), properly implemented, can help in building up India’s budding aerospace industry.
•In the nuclear field, an agreement was signed about a decade ago for building six EPR nuclear power reactors with a total capacity of 9.6 GW for which negotiations have been ongoing between the Nuclear Power Corporation of India (NPCIL) and Areva, and now EdF. Terror strikes in France in recent years by home-grown terrorists have enlarged the scope of counter-terrorism cooperation to include cyber security and discussions on radicalisation.
•Even though these areas provided a robust basis for engagement, it remained primarily at a government-to-government level. In recent years, it was clear that for a wider partnership, strengthening business-to-business and people-to-people relationships was essential. Climate change and renewable energy resources, particularly solar, soon emerged as a new plank, reflected in the multilateral initiative of the International Solar Alliance. Another area identified was urban planning and management of services like housing, transport, water, sanitation, etc using the public private partnership model which the French have employed successfully. Mr. Macron’s visit has enabled progress to be registered across a variety of sectors including the strategic partnership areas.
•There has been a growing convergence of interests in maritime cooperation. Like India, France has expressed concern about China’s growing presence in the Indian Ocean Region. French overseas territories in the Indian and the Pacific Oceans provide it with the second largest exclusive economic zone globally. It has long maintained bases in Reunion Islands and Djibouti and established one in Abu Dhabi in 2009. This regional dimension is reflected in the Vision Statement on cooperation in the Indian Ocean Region.
•The signing of MoUs regarding the provision of reciprocal logistics support to each other’s armed forces, exchange and reciprocal protection of classified information and developing shared space studies and assets for maritime awareness provide the basis on which to strengthen joint naval exercises. With the U.S., naval cooperation has been easier with the Pacific Command which covers China and the region up to the Bay of Bengal but more difficult with the Central Command which covers western Indian Ocean and the Arabian Sea because of Central Command’s privileged relationship with Pakistan. Therefore strengthening cooperation with France, particularly in the western Indian Ocean Region makes eminent strategic sense even as India develops its presence in Oman (Duqm) and Seychelles (Assumption Island).
•The agreement on the industrial way forward between NPCIL and EdF affirms that work at Jaitapur will commence before the end of 2018. Equally significant are the two agreements signed between EdF and other French entities and L&T and Reliance, respectively, reflecting the engagement of Indian industry.
•Trade has grown in recent years but at $10 billion is half of the trade with Germany. The signing of nearly $16 billion worth of agreements at the business summit indicates that private sectors in both countries are beginning to take notice. There are nearly 1,000 French companies present in India including 39 of the CAC 40 while over a hundred Indian businesses have established a presence in France. In the past, Indian companies saw the U.K. as the entry point for Europe; now with Brexit approaching, Mr. Macron has cleverly pitched that India should look at France as its entry point for Europe and Francophonie! The flagship programme of Smart Cities in which France is focussing on Chandigarh, Nagpur and Puducherry is taking shape as more than half the business agreements signed related to electric mobility, water supply, waste management and smart grids.
Educational links
•Potentially, the most significant was the focus on youth and student exchanges. Currently about 2,500 Indians go to France annually to pursue higher education, compared to more than 250,000 from China. A target has been set to raise it to 10,000 by 2020. The agreement on mutual recognition of academic degrees and the follow-on Knowledge Summit, where 14 MoUs between educational and scientific institutions were signed, is a welcome move.
•Tourism is another area that has received attention. A target of a million Indian tourists and 335,000 French tourists has been set for 2020. Given that France receives over 80 million tourists a year and India around nine million, these targets may seem modest but reflect that while there are only about 20 flights a week between India and France, there are four times as many to Germany and 10 times as many to the U.K.
•The Strategic Partnership has already created a solid foundation; other aspects have now received the much needed focus and with proper implementation, it can add to the growing strategic convergence that draws India and France together.
📰 SC shuts the door on foreign law firms
But overseas lawyers can fly in, fly out for a temporary period to give advice
•Keeping India’s legal market exclusively for Indians, the Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that foreign law firms or foreign lawyers cannot practise law in the country either on the litigation or non-litigation side. This means overseas lawyers or firms cannot open offices in the country, appear in courts or before any authority or render other legal services such as giving opinions or drafting documents.
•Upholding similar verdicts of the Bombay and Madras High Courts, a Bench of Justices Adarsh Kumar Goel and Uday Umesh Lalit, however, said there was no bar on foreign law firms or foreign lawyers visiting India for a temporary period on a “fly in and fly out” basis for giving legal advice to their clients on foreign law or their own system of law and on diverse international legal issues.
‘Casual visit’
•“We hold that the expression ‘fly in and fly out’ will only cover a casual visit not amounting to ‘practice’,” the Bench said, adding that any dispute in this issue would be decided by the Bar Council of India. The court also ruled that foreign law firms and lawyers did not have an “absolute right” to conduct arbitration proceedings and disputes arising out of contracts relating to international commercial arbitration. Though they might not be debarred from conducting arbitration in India arising out of international commercial arbitration, they would be governed by the code of conduct applicable to the legal profession in India.
Legal BOPs exempt
•The court said Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) companies providing a range of services to customers like word processing, secretarial support, transcription and proof reading services, travel desk support services and others would not come under the Advocates Act.
•The ruling settles a long-standing argument on whether foreign firms or attorneys should be allowed to enter the Indian legal market. Sections of the legal fraternity have been opposing their entry, contending that Indian advocates are not allowed to practise in the U.K., the U.S., Australia and other nations, except on fulfilling onerous restrictions like qualifying tests, experience and work permit. It was also argued that foreign lawyers cannot be allowed to practise in India without reciprocity. The closely watched case saw 32 law firms from various countries participating. They had argued that there was no bar on a company carrying on consultancy or support services.
📰 Legal experts divided over SC ruling on foreign law firms
Larger questions of policy need to be answered, says former Law Minister Ashwani Kumar
•Opinion among legal experts is divided over the Supreme Court’s Tuesday order ruling that foreign law firms cannot set up offices or practice in India but can “fly in and fly out lawyers to offer legal advice.”
•Former Law Minister Ashwani Kumar, who has dealt with the subject as a minister, said the Supreme Court order has interpreted the law as it exists today but larger questions of policy need to be answered.
•“The judgement of the Supreme Court reflects the spirit of the Advocate’s Act as currently in place and the rules of the profession as defined by the Bar Council of India. However, there is a question that pertains to liberalisation of the legal sector in accordance with WTO initiated global trade negotiations,”said Mr Kumar.
No intent to practice
•Senior lawyer Abhishek Manu Singhvi, who had successfully argued on behalf of foreign law firms in the Madras High Court in 2012, said foreign law firms never attempted to practice in India on Indian law.
•“Their entire object is to handhold foreign clients or Indian clients from abroad coming into India or foreign and Indian clients doing legal work abroad. In all cases involving appearances in Indian courts or all cases of opinions on Indian law, such law firms always do and must engage Indian lawyers,”said Mr Singhvi.
•He said deliberately a “provocative ambience of jingoism” is created that often clouds the issue. “Till such time as the legislature steps in with a comprehensive law, we need to follow the above principle,”he said.
•The Bar Council of India (BCI) had strongly opposed to the idea of foreign law firms operating in India and wanted regulations even for lawyers who “fly in and fly out” for legal advice.
Under BCI
•“They should follow the Advocate ACT 1961 and the rules laid down by BCI. If any foreign lawyer commits a professional misconduct, then under BCI rules, we can hold them accountable and initiate disciplinary action,”said S Prabhakaran, co-chairman of the Bar Council.
•“We welcome the judgement since it allows foreign lawyers with international expertiseto come and offer their advice. When we argue our cases, we often cite or refer to international law. So, international exposure helps but at the same time, the judgement protects our Indian law firms and lawyers,” said Sanjay Chaddha, senior partner in BSK Legal, a Delhi-based law firm.
📰 Aadhaar link deadline extended indefinitely
Relief not applicable to benefits under Section 7 of Act
•In a relief for citizens, the Supreme Court indefinitely extended the deadline for linking Aadhaar with mobile phones, tatkal passports and for opening bank accounts from March 31, 2018 till the Constitution Bench led by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra pronounces its final verdict on the validity of the Aadhaar scheme.
•Remarking that it has had enough of “piecemeal” notifications and legislations issued by the government to link one service or the other, Chief Justice Misra said it is time the court stepped in and stopped passing interim orders extending the deadline. There should be a sense of certainty that citizens would not be harmed or their services curtailed even as the very Aadhaar scheme is under the apex court’s microscope.
Linkage with PAN
•On December 15 last year, the Bench had extended the Aadhaar linkage deadline from December 31, 2017 to March 31, 2018. It had however, even then concluded that the Aadhaar-PAN linkage was valid.
•Tuesday’s order is more or less identical to the interim order passed on December 15 except for the fact that March 31, 2018 continues to be the deadline for linking Aadhaar to subsidies, benefits and services prescribed under Section 7 of the Aadhaar Act of 2016.
‘Not all services’
•Despite submissions made by senior advocate Shyam Divan and advocate Vipin Nair that the indefinite extension of the deadline should include all services, including those under Section 7, the court restricted its relaxation of the deadline to services outside Section 7.
•The March 13 order itself does not dwell on why the extension was not made applicable to benefits under Section 7.
•“On a query being made, Mr. K.K. Venugopal, learned Attorney General for India, submitted that this Court may think of extending the interim order. However, the benefits, subsidies and services covered under Section 7 of the The Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Act, 2016 should remain undisturbed. We accept the same,” the court said, dismissing the notion of including Section 7 benefits too.
•Section 7 of the Aadhaar Act says that the Centre and State governments can insist on Aadhaar “for the purpose of establishing identity of an individual as a condition for receipt of a subsidy, benefit or service for which the expenditure is incurred from the Consolidated Fund of India.” To undergo authentication to access services under Section 7, an individual has to either produce his Aadhaar card or Aadhaar enrolment application.
Statutory protection
•Lawyers for the petitioners hint that the court may have excluded Section 7 benefits from the extension because it is statutorily protected by the Aadhaar Act itself, whereas the other linkings like mobile phones are based on other statutes or even executive notifications.
•The fact that time is running out for linking Aadhaar and citizens should not be left in a state of uncertainty was highlighted by one of the judges, Justice D.Y. Chandrachud, on the Aadhaar Constitution Bench itself. “We are dealing with the entire financial system… We cannot let this state of uncertainty prevail… We cannot tell them, like on March 27, whether the deadline is extended or not… A banker cannot be expected to seek compliance from customers within seven days,” Justice Chandrachud had said on March 7.
📰 Post-scam, RBI stops issue of LoUs
The decision to discontinue the practice of Letters of Undertakings and Letters of Comfort for trade finance comes into force with immediate effect, says the RBI
•In the wake of an escalating controversy over the Nirav Modi-centred scam at the Punjab National Bank (PNB), the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has decided to discontinue the practice of providing guarantees by issuing letters of undertaking (LoUs) and letters of comfort (LoCs) for trade credits for imports to India.
•The action comes into immediate effect. The decision will apply to AD (authorised dealer) category-I banks.
•The PNB said the fraudulent transactions had resulted in a loss of over ₹12,600 crore.
📰 CAG flags Railways’ parlous finances
‘Operating ratio has weakened to 16-year low; passenger fares, freight charges must aim to cover costs’
•The reported operating ratio of 96.5% in 2016-17 does not reflect the true financial performance of Indian Railways, as this would have deteriorated to 99.54% if the actual expenditure on pension payments was taken into account, according to the CAG report tabled in Parliament.
•An operating ratio of 99.54% means that Railways is spending 99.54 paise to earn 100 paise.
‘₹5,000 crore higher’
•“Had the actual amount ₹40,025.95 crore required to meet the expenditure on pension payments of Zonal Railways been appropriated to the Pension Fund [instead of ₹35,000 crore], the total gross working expenditure of IR would have increased to ₹1,64,537.93 crore and the operating ratio would work out to 99.54%,” the Comptroller and Auditor General of India said.
•Even at 96.5%, the operating ratio was at its poorest level since 2000-01 when it was 98.34%. Pitching for revisiting the passenger and other tariffs to reduce losses in core activities, the CAG said there was hardly any justification for not fully recovering the cost of passenger services in the case of AC First Class, First Class and AC 2-Tier class. “However, since one of the factors for not recovering full cost from these classes could be the issue of free and concessional fare passes [or] tickets to various beneficiaries in good numbers, this practice needs to be scaled down,” it added.
•The CAG said passenger fares and freight charges should be based on the cost involved so that it brings both rationality and flexibility in pricing, considering the financial health of Railways and the current market scenario.
•“Non-availability of sufficient funds in Depreciation Reserve Fund to replace the overaged assets is indicative of weak financial health of Indian Railways,” it said, adding that the huge backlog of renewal and replacement of over aged assets in railway system needs to be addressed for safe running of trains.
Control mechanisms
•There is a need to strengthen internal control mechanisms to reduce instances of misclassification of expenditure, the CAG said.
•“The unsanctioned expenditure should be controlled; administration should ensure all unsanctioned expenditure is regularised on priority,” it said.
•Further, the CAG said that the Indian Railways should follow the system of disclosing significant accounting policies forming the basis of preparation of financial statements such as accounting of fixed assets, depreciation and investments.
📰 ‘Laws on location services shouldn’t hit innovation’
Google Maps’ chief hopes for ‘balance’ in Geospatial Bill
•Any new regulation or law that the government may bring for location-based services should ensure that the pace of innovation is not impacted, said Suren Ruhela, Director, Google Maps Next Billion Users.
•“The entire space around location services is very dynamic… the ecosystem is still evolving,” he said, adding that some concerns that governments had about security were not specific to one country.
•Replying to a query on the proposed Geospatial Information Regulation Bill or GIRB on Tuesday, Mr. Ruhela said that being a global firm, Google abided by the law of the land. “When it comes to specifically, something like GIRB, I would say that government is promoting location services in a lot of ways.”
•“The government clearly recognises that location service is a big enabler for implementation of schemes, delivery of government services. We have to balance somewhere to see that regulations or laws should not scuttle the pace of innovation. This government is very progressive. I am sure these aspects will be looked at,” he said.
•As per the draft Bill, a nod from a government authority would be required before acquiring, disseminating, publishing or distributing any geospatial information of India. It also proposes heavy fines for violation.
New features
•Google rolled out new features to aid easier navigation using Google Maps, including voice navigation in six languages – Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Telugu, Tamil and Malayalam. It also unveiled ‘Plus Codes’ – a system based on dividing the geographical surface of the earth into tiny ‘tiled areas’.
📰 What was the 20:80 gold import scheme?
•The Centre on Monday announced its intention to probe the circumstances behind the extension of the 20:80 gold import scheme, previously restricted to banks and PSUs, to private parties in the final days of the previous government’s term in 2014.
What prompted the scheme?
•In response to a stressed current account deficit in 2012-13 due to a surge in gold imports, the government at the time introduced an import scheme in 2013, which mandated that 20% of all gold imports would have to be exported.
•“The scheme was designed to restrict the import of gold, conserve foreign exchange by imposing export obligations, and ensure that the premium from purchase and sale of gold resided in the hands of public agencies,” according to the Commerce Ministry.
Who could import gold under the scheme?
•At the time of its implementation, the 20:80 scheme was open only to banks and to public sector companies such as the Metals and Minerals Trading Corporation and the State Trading Corporation of India. In May 2014, the RBI in consultation with the government widened the scheme to also allow Premium Trading Houses (PTH) and Star Trading Houses (STH), both private sector entities, to import gold.
How did the scheme fare?
•According to the Commerce Ministry, a review of the scheme found that since liberalisation in May 2014, gold imports had increased substantially, averaging about 140-150 tonnes a month. Within this, the government found that gold imported by STHs and PTHs increased 320% following the May 2014 decision compared with the earlier period.
•The share of these entities in the total gold imported into the country also increased from 20% before May to 60% after, according to the government.
•The government on November 28, 2014 scrapped the 20:80 scheme and removed all restrictions on gold imports.
What was the impact of the abolition?
•The Centre, citing the Comptroller and Auditor General of India, said that the average monthly import of gold fell to 71.5 million tonnes in the months following the abolition of the 20:80 scheme [December 2014 to March 2015] from the monthly average of 92.16 million tonnes in the period following the widening of the policy [June 2014 to November 2014].
•Gold imports averaged 33.6 million tonnes per month before STHs and PTHs were allowed to import under the 20:80 scheme [from August 2013 to May 2014], according to the government.
📰 ICMR wins the 2017 Kochon Prize for TB research
The $65,000 Prize is awarded annually by Stop TB Partnership
•The 2017 Kochon Prize was awarded to the Indian Council of Medical Research(ICMR) today in New Delhi for building a tradition of excellence in TB research and development. The $65,000 Prize is awarded annually by Stop TB Partnership to individuals and/or organizations that have made a significant contribution to combating TB. The ICMR emerged the winner from amongst 18 nominations.
•“The 2017 Kochon Prize is specifically about contributions to TB research. Since ICMR and several of its research groups — NIRT, JALMA and India TB Research Consortium — are engaged in TB research, and some of them for a very long time, it made sense to nominate ICMR for this Prize this year. I nominated ICMR for the large body of research over many decades,” says Prof. Madhukar Pai, a TB expert from McGill University, Montreal, Canada who nominated ICMR for the award.
•“I am delighted that this year’s Kochon Prize to ICMR recognises decades of ground-breaking TB research by India, which shaped the global DOTS strategy. The award is richly deserved, and timely, as India has raised its ambition and political commitment,” Prof. Pai says in an email to The Hindu.
•“ICMR deserves the recognition. TB research itself needs recognition. We can’t end TB without research,” says Dr. Soumya Swaminathan, Deputy Director General at the World Health Organisation. She is a TB researcher and former Director of NIRT before becoming the Director-General of ICMR. “The Prize sends a strong message that investing in research is critically important to end TB epidemic. The recognition comes at a crucial time when the Indian government is increasing its commitment to end TB. The award will improve the profile of ICMR, bring more awareness and funding for research and attract more people to take up research on TB.”
•“Since its inception in 1956, Chennai’s National Institute of Research in Tuberculosis (NIRT) [which was formerly known as the Tuberculosis Chemotherapy Centre and later as Tuberculosis Research Centre (TRC)] has undertaken several trials that had had impact internationally,” says Dr. Swaminathan.
•TRC started with the landmark Madras Classic trial 1956 to compare the outcomes of domiciliary chemotherapy with treatment in sanatorium. The first of its kind trial showed that the cure rate was the same when treatment was offered at home and in sanatorium. The BCG vaccine trial by TRC, the largest ever to be conducted, followed-up 350,000 volunteers for 15 years. “The trial was conducted to the highest standards. Such a large trial has never been replicated anywhere else,” says Dr. Swaminathan.
•TRC has also conducted more than 50 drug combination and duration trails for both pulmonary and extra-pulmonary TB, and undertaken pharmacokinetic studies for dosing. It has developed new diagnostics, and tested and validated diagnostics developed elsewhere.
•The India TB Research Consortium is addressing the need for increased investment byIndia and other TB high-burden countries. In a few months, trails using the two new TB drug (Bedaquiline and delamanid) combinations for MDR-TB and XDR-TB will get under way. The trails will be combining two existing drugs and the two new drugs to reduce the duration of treatment from the current 24-30 months to 6-9 months.
•Another trial to be carried out at multiple sites in India will test the effectiveness of adding the already approved diabetes drug metformin to standard anti-TB regimen for drug-sensitive TB. With the ethics committee approval already in, the trial is expected to start very soon.
📰 An urgent prescription
India needs to shore up public sector capacity for making medicines
•India is rightly acclaimed to be the pharmacy of the world, with its huge private sector capacity for producing branded and unbranded generic drugs. Much of this growth took place after India opted for process patenting over product patenting in 1970. This changed to a product patent regime in 2005, providing sufficient time for growth of the generic drug industry in the private sector. However, this period has also seen the decline and near disappearance of public sector capacity for manufacture of drugs and vaccines. That is a cause for worry.
Beyond profit motive
•Public sector capacity for manufacture of essential drugs and vaccines is very much needed to ensure that our population is not denied access to drugs that the Indian private sector is unable to produce or supply at affordable cost. These include drugs where compulsory licences may need to be issued by the government for patent protected drugs or even off-patent drugs which are commercially unattractive to private manufacturers. Compulsory licensing (CL) is a mechanism permitted by the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement to enable countries to issue licences to domestic drug manufacturers to produce and market affordable generic versions of life-saving drugs needed for meeting serious public health challenges that are of extreme urgency. This allows countries to overcome patent restrictions to assure availability of such drugs when the situation demands. Drugs effective against multi-drug resistant tuberculosis and anti-cancer drugs are clear examples of such a need, which should be addressed through compulsory licensing. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has now invited expressions of interest from drug manufacturers to produce generic versions of two effective but expensive anti-tubercular drugs, bedaquiline and delamanid. Patients with drug-resistant TB require a combination of both these drugs.
•India has used the CL route previously to permit two Indian companies, Natco and Cipla, to produce a potent anti-cancer drug nexavar. This enabled a 32-fold reduction in the cost of the drug. However, extensive litigation followed with action initiated by Bayer, the multi-national manufacturer of the patented version. This appears to have dampened the appetite of private drug manufacturers to avail of the CL route for the manufacture of generic versions of the new anti-tubercular drugs. While both Indian and global demand for these drugs is very high, will the Indian pharma respond? The experience of price negotiation with the patent-holding companies is not encouraging, if they do not see evidence of a government’s intent to use the CL route as an imminent possibility.
•If the domestic private sector drug manufacturers are not ready to apply for CL, for whatever reason, public sector capacity to seek and utilise such licences becomes indispensable. With the acquisition of Indian drug companies by foreign manufacturers, or ‘strategic alliances’ which place shackles on the Indian partners, public sector capacity for manufacturing life saving drugs under a CL is the much needed fall-back option. Similarly, drugs for neglected tropical diseases are of little interest to the commercially driven private drug industry. Active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), which are needed for drug manufacture (formulation), are now mostly imported from China. This makes India highly vulnerable to disruptions in supply and cost escalations in import. National security demands that we develop both public and private sector capacity within the country, with suitable government support and incentives, to ensure uninterrupted and inexpensive availability of APIs.
•The High Level Expert Group Report on Universal Health Coverage for India (2011) clearly articulated the need for strengthening public sector units (PSUs) which have drug manufacturing capability. The report stated: “The use of PSUs will offer an opportunity to produce drug volumes for use in primary and secondary care facilities as well as help in ‘benchmarking’ drug costs. The existence of PSUs would also provide an opportunity to utilise the provision of Compulsory Licensing under TRIPS.” Effective implementation of the Ayushman Bharat initiative calls for investment in expanding public sector capacity for producing essential drugs and APIs, even as the domestic private sector is incentivised to offer quality assured generics at a lower cost through a policy of pooled public procurement. This also embodies the spirit of Make in India.
Ensuring universal access
•A report of the UN High Level Panel Access to Medicines (2016) called upon countries to safeguard and fully utilise the rights conferred by the TRIPS flexibilities as confirmed by the Doha Declaration of the WTO. The UN report also urges member states of WTO to adopt a permanent revision of Paragraph 6 of the TRIPS agreement to enable “swift and expeditious export of pharmaceutical products produced under compulsory license”. India should take the lead in ensuring universal access to affordable drugs through such measures. Investment in public sector capacity is essential to ensure that the country can exercise that leadership even on occasions when the private pharmaceutical sector does not fully align with that objective.
📰 First, the basic sciences
India needs to invest more widelyand deeply in scientific enterprise
•Last month, theoretical physicist and futurist Michio Kaku tweeted: “The economics of space travel have changed. It cost about $100 million to produce The Martian with Matt [Damon]. But the Indians sent their probe to Mars for $70 million… They should give an Oscar for the best supporting rocket!” The tweet attracted about 123 comments that ranged from outrage that Indians should spend this much on space probes rather than on education or hospitals to “I am proud to be an Indian.” These reactions alert us to a deeper question: are Indians investing enough in science, and how should this investment be apportioned?
•As per data provided by the UNESCO Institute for Statistics, India invests about 0.8% of its GDP on research and development, and supports 156 researchers per million of population. The figures for China are 2%, and 1,113, respectively. China’s investment is now comparable to any developed country, with Germany standing at 2.9% and 4,363 researchers and the U.S. at 2.8% and 4,231. In 2000, China had invested only about 0.9% of its GDP on research and development, but this was steadily ramped up and in 2010 stood at 1.71%. India invested 0.74% in 2000, and increased this to 0.82% in 2010. While China took it up to 2.1% in 2016, in India it came down to 0.63% in 2015. These figures ignore the reality of what science has become in the last two decades.
•The Raman effect, discovered by C.V. Raman, the only Indian Nobel Laureate in Physics, is a widely used tool of analysis in chemistry and physics. It was discovered on February 28, 1928 with relatively meagre resources available in the labs set up by Raman. The discovery’s frugal spirit is very much part of the mental makeup of Indian scientists today, as evinced by Michio Kaku’s Tweet.
•However, today, while there is theoretical and even experimental work that can be done by small groups with a low budget, many pressing problems in science demand larger investments, including resources, funding and human capital. The Indian Space Research Organisation has quietly and efficiently carried out large projects, but such projects have not been exactly welcomed in basic sciences. Bigger projects involve coordination of the work of several hundred people and international collaborations; they need physical space and funding. They challenge the mindset of doing science in isolation, within labs, and as unnoticed by society as possible. Canada made this transition in the late 1980s with its first big investment in science — the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory. Since then, it has not looked back.
•Even to tackle climate change and its anticipated fallout, manage food, energy and growth requirements of a rising population and cope with health hazards, we need critical and creative thinking that can only evolve parallel to investment in basic sciences research.
•Nobel prizes and international acclaim are just one, largely secondary, aspect. To develop a meaningful and scientific handle over impending crises, India needs to invest more widely and deeply in scientific enterprise.
📰 TB elimination goal advanced by five years
‘India can be free of the disease by 2025’
•Advancing India’s TB elimination goal by five years ahead of the global target, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said, “India is determined to address the challenge of TB in mission mode. I am confident that India can be free of TB by 2025.”
•He was speaking at the inauguration of the Delhi End TB Summit here. The Prime Minister also launched the TB Free India Campaign on the occasion.
•He said TB mainly affected the poorest of the poor and every step taken towards the elimination of the disease was a step towards improving the lives of the poor.
States’ role
•Mr. Modi said State governments played a very important role in the elimination of TB. “Thus strengthening the spirit of cooperative federalism, I have personally written to the State governments to join in this mission,” he said.
•The Prime Minister said front-line workers played a crucial role in TB elimination along with the people who had demonstrated great courage in defeating this disease.
•Also present on the occasion were Union Minister for Health J.P. Nadda; Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare Anupriya Patel; Director-General, WHO, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus; former director, Stop TB Partnership, Ms. Lucica Difiu; along with Health Ministers from 20 countries.
