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Washington & London [illus. 1] The horrific events of 11 September in New York and Washington have left scientists -- in common with people from all walks of life -- [...]

Science features prominently in the manifestos of the main political parties contesting India's month-long general election, which began on 16 April. The battle mainly involves two coalitions: the ruling left-of-centre [...]

Russia, France and other countries are rushing to capitalize on India's nuclear-power programme, four months after the United States pressured the 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group to end India's nuclear isolation. [...]

Nuclear tests carried out by India's Bharatiya Janata Party government have been widely approved by the general public and have also been supported by scientists. However, protestors, including Kuldip Nayar, India's former high commissioner to the UK, believe that such spending is dangerous and the tests are a political diversion.

Agricultural research centers in developing countries have been trimming their staffs as international funding has become tight. India's International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics will be laying off more than 500 of its staff, one third of which comprises local employees. The International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines will also be serving 'separation' notices to 550 employees, most of whom are local hires. A layoff may also be in the offing for the Centro Internacional de Agricultura Tropical in Colombia. The three research institutes receive funding from the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research.

Indian scientists are pressuring the government to tighten rules on human DNA and blood sample exports. They claim that valuable genetic data are being smuggled from the country illegally under the guise of collaborative research in human genetics. Although the Indian Council of Medical Research has been screening biological exports since 1992, council officials lament that they have not been provided with enough enforcement powers.

India's remarkable growth in science funding--notching up annual increases of about 25% over the past five years--seems finally to have been hit by the global economic downturn. Last week, the [...]

Under new rules, medical practitioners in India cannot accept any gifts or favors from drug companies. The rules, which come from the Medical Council of India and went into effect [...]

India's particle physicists have lost their battle to build a neutrino laboratory--one of the country's biggest physics projects--under the Nilgiri hills at Singara in the state of Tamil Nadu. The [...]

BANGALORE The first appointment in a scheme to recruit expatriate scientists to senior positions in the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR)--India's largest science agency--seems to have misfired badly. [...]

Stiff opposition from activists has persuaded the Indian government to put off commercial release of the country's first genetically modified (GM) food crop, despite clearance from the nation's top biotechnology [...]

Indian universities are likely to find themselves under a new oversight body, human resource development minister Kapil Sibal announced last week. Physicist Yash Pal led the committee that recommended setting [...]

An international collaboration to study insects in the Western Ghats mountains in southern India has been unable to get off the ground because of government concerns over biopiracy. The Indian-American [...]

India's prime minister Manmohan Singh has announced unprecedented funding for science education and research, saying it is a top priority for his government. He has announced a range of schemes [...]

India's high-energy physicists have been given the go-ahead to build an underground laboratory to study neutrinos. The plan to investigate these elusive subatomic particles has been in the works since [...]

Author(s): K.S. Jayaraman [1] Activists say law will make HIV/AIDS drugs unaffordable for most people. The Indian government has passed a new law forbidding local companies from manufacturing copies of [...]

Author(s): K.S. Jayaraman [1] An international patent agreement that goes into effect on 1 January 2005 is compelling Indian drug companies to pump money into research and development (R&D), strike [...]

Author(s): K.S. Jayaraman [1] The genetic makeup of Indians favors a fast and easy spread of AIDS, Indian scientists have cautioned their government. The presence of certain genetic variants also [...]

Author(s): I-han Chou [1]; K.S. Jayaraman [2] When the first HIV-positive case surfaced in the southern Indian city of Madras--now called Chennai--18 years ago, the Indian Council of Medical Research [...]

Author(s): Myrna Watanabe [1]; K.S. Jayaraman [2] Experts in AIDS research, ethics, law and policy quietly met in Geneva mid-July to debate whether sponsors of HIV prevention trials are obligated [...]

Author(s): K.S. Jayaraman [1] The Indian government has agreed to fund research on the humble goat, Capra hircus, as a source of cells for liver transplants. If monkey trials planned [...]

Author(s): K.S. Jayaraman [1] To promote India as a global health destination, the Indian government has announced in its annual federal budget a series of new tax concessions and incentives [...]