Congress unveils six-point charter
New Delhi: Releasing the party's manifesto for the 2004 elections, the Congress President Sonia Gandhi has unveiled a six-point charter, which she said was a "action-oriented transparent programme, unlike the hidden agenda of the NDA Government." Responding to questions, Mrs Gandhi said that the party would also come out with vision documents on economic policy, social empowerment, national security and foreign affairs in greater details in the coming days, as the manifesto should not be too bulky.

According to the manifesto, the Congress would prioritise agriculture in resource allocation. The manifesto said public investment in agriculture would be stepped up substantially with focus in the backward and poor regions, covering irrigation, electrification, godowns, marketing, research and extension.The Congress would also examine the feasibility of an Agricultural Stabilisation Fund entailing a system of direct support to farmers, besides systematically removing controls on the free movement of farm commodities and processing of agricultural products and regulations that depress the income of the farmers.The party also pledged to raise public spending in education to at least 6 per cent of GDP with at least half of this amount being spent in primary and secondary schools. It also promises to raise public spending on health to at least 2-3 per cent of GDP with focus on primary healthcare over the next five years and to around 5 per cent of GDP over the next decade.
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WEF-CII combine to battle tuberculosis
New Delhi: The World Economic Forum's (WEF) Global Health Initiative along with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has launched a joint initiative to combat tuberculosis. It will be joined in this initiative by corporates such as the Aditya Birla Group, Larsen & Toubro, Lupin Ltd, Modicare Foundation, Novartis India, Reliance Industries, Tata Steel and Triveni Sugar.
Called the new Business Alliance to stop TB, this group will use public and private resources to raise awareness about the disease, increase testing and improve treatment.
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Chamber for pharma R&D fund, biotech regulatory panel
New Delhi: The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham) have proposed the formation of a pharmaceutical R&D support fund and the creation of an autonomous Drug Development Promotion Foundation.The fund would provide venture capital financing of high cost but low return R&D. The chamber has recommended that the management of this fund should be through an autonomous and knowledge-centred council.

In the note submitted to the Government, the chamber has also made some recommendations regarding the biotechnology industry. The chamber says that there should not be any import duty on capital goods and consumables used by the biotechnology industry and a tax holiday for 10 years should be offered as well. The chamber has proposed the creation of a biotechnology regulatory commission charged with the responsibility of resolving conflicting interests and integrating co-ordinated development in biotechnology and related businesses and ethical/moral issues.
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