Among consumers ‘new and improved’ is a well-proven success mantra, one that ramps up sales of soap, butter, televisions or any other such product. Among patients, ‘new and improved’ is much more—it’s a prayer. Right now, this is a prayer going unheard in India, home to the world’s largest diabetes population. 

Ever since 2007, studies have shown that rosiglitazone, the drug most widely prescribed and used for type II diabetes, causes cardiac risks and deaths. In India, rosiglitazone, manufactured by GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), sells as Windia and Windamet. Both drugs have provided the company a good perch in this fast-growing therapeutic area. In America, where it sells as Avandia, GSK’s blockbuster drug has run into serious controversy.   

Here’s what studies reveal. When compared to pioglitazone, a safer and improved molecule, rosiglitazone is more likely to cause heart failure by about 50 per cent.  Rosiglitazone-induced heart failure actually leads to more deaths than pioglitazone. Studies of this drug’s cardiac risks were ordered by the United Stated Food and Drug Administration (USFDA). Even after the American and European Diabetes Associations advised against it, the drug hasn’t been withdrawn. In fact, on 14 July, the FDA decided to allow Avandia to sell with ‘more severe labels’ and ‘patient education’. 

But would either of these spell out the truth? That this pill could kill you? “This is the first time that a clinical trial is being conducted to prove that a drug is not inferior to another drug. Usually, this is done to prove a drug is superior,” says CM Gulhati, editor of the most authoritative reference guide for prescription drugs in India, MIMS (Monthly Index of Medical Specialities). 

In what is a continuing fraud upon patients, the Drugs Controller General, India, (DCGI) has allowed GSK to conducts trials at ten sites to study if this drug causes cardiovascular effects. Gulhati declares: “There is no justification for the DCGI approving this trial; it will expose Indians to morbidity.” In fact, the trial consent form does not even present the risks in proper perspective. “It is most unethical and inhuman to administer a drug that is known to be inferior to the comparative molecule,” says Gulhati. Next time you’re at the diabetologist, ask—no, demand the safer, improved anti-diabetes pill.

Holy cow! The BJP wailed. No beef on the Commonwealth Games (CWG) menu, it had demanded of Suresh Kalmadi, Chairman of the CWG Organising Committee. But with less than three months to go before the cooks get to work, the shopping list is still hanging fire. In response to a Right to Information application, the guys in charge had this to say: ‘The organising committee of the Commonwealth Games has decided to provide nutritious meals to the participants as per the guidelines of the Commonwealth Games Federation (CWF).’ It added: ‘The CWF guidelines state that the committee must provide quality 24-hour catering service offering nutritious meals and snacks to athletes and their team... taking into consideration cultural and dietary requirements and the need for variety.’ Hmm. Given the high protein content of the meat in question, it does seem the BJP will be yelling Holy Cow again.

Superman has been ‘grounded’ for a year. In a 13-part series by the same name starting this month, the flying superhero is being made to take a walk across the US. During his year-long trek, the Man of Steel is expected to reconnect with the average American he’d promised to protect, reaching out to everyday people from poverty and drug-plagued areas. The 701st issue, which has kickstarted the series, is based in Philadelphia, from where he’ll step across to Detroit, and over the course of the year pass through Illinois, Iowa, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, California, Oregon and Washington. Readers keen on seeing the man with the red undie pass through their town, city or neighbourhood have been encouraged to write in explaining why he should visit their home town, with DC Comics making the final selection. Incidentally, Superman’s ‘return-to-roots’ journey comes after a year or so that he spent on the planet New Krypton, along with others of his superhuman abilities.

If the present is any indication, pretty soon wars are going to be about fighting machines. Currently, there are 15,000 robots and 12,000 drones in operation in theatres of war.  Take the Packbot, which costs $150,000. There are 12,000 of these robots in Iraq and Afghanistan, defusing anti-personnel mines and improvised explosive devices. Then there are predator drones being operated from United States bases which can fly overhead for 14 hours and fire two Hellfire missiles. And the Marcbot is a tiny vehicle mounted with television cameras that can perform the job of a scout. Reported to be the first robot that actually killed an enemy in the field, the Marcbot is armed with a Claymore anti-personnel mine. The little known Wasp Drone is critical in building-to-building urban combat. On being tossed by a solder into a building, its sensors and camera give real time 3D images of the interiors.

Andhra Pradesh (AP) has decided to harden its stand on what it calls illegal projects taken up by Maharashtra on the river Godavari. This has re-ignited a decades old water war between the two states. AP has accused Maharashtra of constructing and expanding the Babhali irrigation project and 12 other projects without its consent, thereby denying the state its rightful share of waters. The projects were in the spotlight as Telugu Desam Party (TDP) legislators, led by Chandrababu Naidu, marched into Maharashtra to inspect the project area themselves. Maharashtra Police promptly rounded them up, and after two days of high-voltage drama, they were all put on a flight back to Hyderabad. Andhra CM K Rosaiah later said that his government would fight its neighbour in the Supreme Court, even as an all-party delegation is set to meet the Prime Minister on this issue on 26 July. Though he condemned the high-handedness of Maharashtra Police in dealing with the TDP legislators, Rosaiah also said that the issue was not one of Telugu self-respect versus Maratha pride, as made out to be by Naidu. The TDP, however, resolved to keep the issue alive till the PM intervenes, prompting the Congress to ask why Naidu had not protested when Maharashtra took up the project in 2003, when he was the CM.

The TDP and Left parties campaigning for the Telangana bypolls on 27 July have been crying hoarse that the 13 projects being constructed on the Godavari in Maharashtra would drain the Godavari backwaters in AP’s Sriramsagar project  and dry up farmers’ fields in five Telangana districts. As the TDP legislators were allegedly beaten up by Maharashtra Police, the party called for a bandh and resorted to strikes. In Anantpur, TDP leaders  have threatened to not let Maharashtra CM Ashok Chavan visit Puttaparthi  to meet Sathya Sai Baba.

How long should a country pay the price for having ministers who are  so pre-occupied elsewhere that their respective ministries become mere afterthoughts? The recent train accident at Sainthia, killing nearly 70 people, is just one more reason to ask this question—again. 

Railways, agriculture, and food, civil supplies and consumer affairs—all extremely significant ministries for the aam aadmi—have suffered acute negligence under UPA II. 

If Trinamool Chief Mamata Banerjee, the railway minister, is preoccupied with West Bengal politics, NCP leader Sharad Pawar, in charge of agriculture as well as food, civil supplies and consumer affairs, unabashedly says that he wants to devote more time to the ICC. And yet, the PM is sitting pretty as if things would improve on their own.

Of course, the two ministers are backed by compulsions of coalition politics. Pranab Mukherjee has even backed Mamata by saying that “nobody can predict accidents”, but her tenure as railway minister is too disastrous to gloss over. Ever since she has taken over, there have been nearly 200 accidents in which 428 people have died and over 600 injured. Such is her neglect of the ministry—primarily because of her absence from Delhi— that over 90,000 appointments related to railway safety remain pending.

If Mamata has ruined the arteries of the nation, Pawar has completely damaged the food system. After demanding the crucial portfolios and then thoroughly mismanaging them, the Maratha leader revealed,  “I met the Prime Minister today and have requested him to reduce my burden.” This he said on 5 July, the day the opposition staged a countrywide protest against rising prices. With crucial ministries under his charge, Pawar is supposed to be among the Government’s principal fire-fighters, but he has been more interested in cricket. In fact, whenever he did intervene, prices worsened further. Any strong government would have ejected Pawar and Mamata by now. There indeed are certain compulsions of coalition politics, but they stop operating if—as is obvious today—there are parties waiting in the wings. So, what is the PM waiting for?