Digital divide and access to online education: new evidence from Tamil Nadu, India

The pandemic and the long closure of educational institutions have changed the learning and teaching practices across the globe. A massive and unplanned shift towards online education with unequal access to digital infrastructure deepens the existing digital divide and socio-economic inequalities. Tamil Nadu Covid Pulse Survey shows the state's commitment to strengthening evidence-based policymaking and continuing its welfare tradition including its efforts to provide uninterrupted education during the crisis. Based on the three recent rounds of the panel survey conducted in October 2020 and August 2021, this article discusses Tamil Nadu's experience in continuing education during the pandemic. The result highlights the existing digital divide and challenges faced by students in accessing online education. Some of the government initiatives like Kalvi TV telecasting classes for school students have been effective in addressing the digital divide between rural and urban areas in the state and making its education system more inclusive.

Revision of some mensural measurements, food preference, and haematological parameters in breeding pairs of blue rock pigeon, Columba livia sampled from punjab Pakistan

The present study describes the haematological profile, feeding preference, and comparison of morphometric characters of blue rock pigeon (Columba livia) breeding pairs. For this purpose, 25 pairs (25 samples per sex) were sampled through Mist nets from district Okara and Bahawalnagar, Punjab, Pakistan. Birds were then anaesthetized with a combination of ketamine HCL (10 mg/kg) and diazepam (0.2 mg/kg) and subjected to morphometric measurements. 5µL blood also was taken from the jugular vein of each anaesthetized bird for haematological analysis. Few pairs were also dissected to remove gastrointestinal tracts (GITs) for food preferences. Results revealed that there are no significant differences in the haematological parameters and feeding preference of breeding pairs of Columba livia. The gut analysis further revealed, the major portion of gut contents consisted of pea and corn in most of the pairs. Regarding the mensural measurements, significant differences were recorded in the body weight, length of the longest primary feather, and chest circumference, whereas the rest of the studied parameters remain nonsignificant between sexes. So, it is concluded that apart from 3 morphometric parameters (body weight, length of longest primary feather and chest circumference), both sexes are alike in term of morphometry, haematology and food preference.

Access to Medicines and Performance of the Indian Pharmaceutical Industry: Examining India’s Experience in the New Patent Regime1

The advocates of intellectual property rights project strong patent regime as an effective way to promote research and development (R&D) activities leading to innovation while others argue that they may adversely affect local industries in developing countries and result in monopoly pricing that may compromise on larger interests including public healthcare. The process patent regime has enabled Indian pharmaceutical firms to strengthen their technological capability and performance in domestic and global markets. As the country reintroduced product patent protection in 2005, Indian ‘copycats’ could not follow their reverse engineering technology anymore. Being a developing country and ‘pharmacy of the Global South’, India’s experience offers global dimensions to these debates. This article makes an attempt to reflect on India’s experience with the new patent regime; it looks into the pattern of R&D, trade and trend of product patenting in the pharmaceutical sector and revisits public health concerns.