Taking cue from Centre and State bans drug to save vultures Use of Ketoprofen to be discontinued

Taking cue from Centre and State bans drug to save
vultures Use of Ketoprofen to be discontinued 

After a ban on multi-vial drugs of Diclofenac by the Centre, now the State government has withdrawn Ketoprofen, a non-steroid anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) used extensively for veterinary purposes to save the vulture population in the three western districts. Despite the first batch of the drug being supplied to all the districts beginning May 2015, the Directorate of Animal Husbandry has decided to discontinue the use of Ketoprofen in Erode, Coimbatore and The Nilgiris, where the vulture population was in danger, sources say. The drug was included in the procurement list of the Animal Husbandry Department in 2014-15. Totally, 25,730 vials of Ketoprofen were supplied to all the districts, of which 2,190 vials were supplied to the three western districts.

Mainstreaming a nuclear Pakistan

India should offer conditional support to a civilian nuclear deal between the U.S. and Pakistan while insisting that Islamabad signs the ‘No-first-use treaty’ and clamps down on home-grown terror. It is in India’s interest to ensure that Pakistan’s nukes are under international supervision It is better for the international community to be in the know of Pakistan’s nuclear programme than having absolutely no clue about what it is doing with its nuclear technology.

What should New Delhi’s response be to a potential nuclear deal between the United States and Pakistan that could eventually mainstream the latter into the global nuclear order? New Delhi’s initial reactions to media reports about a possible deal indicate that it would unambiguously resist any such move by the United States. In a recent Washington Post column, David Ignatius wrote that “the United States might support an eventual waiver for Pakistan by the 48-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group, of which the United States is a member… the issue is being discussed quietly in the run-up to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s visit to Washington on October 22”. The Indian Ministry of External Affairs quickly responded to what Mr. Ignatius called a potential U.S.-Pak “diplomatic blockbuster” in the following words: “We’ve seen these reports and it is not for the first time this issue has surfaced. Whosoever is examining that particular dossier should be well-aware of Pakistan’s track record in the area of proliferation. When India got this particular deal it was on the basis of our own impeccable non-proliferation track record. That is the reason the U.S. gave us 123 Agreement in 2005 and that is why we got a NSG waiver in 2008. Pakistan’s track record is completely different, so we hope that will be taken into account in making any such decision”. The Ignatius piece should be seen in the context of a number of important developments which