Round the Mulberry Bush Again

THERE appears to be a wind of change blowing in the corridors of the department of drugs and pharmaceuticals. Bur whether this will result in only a slight displacement in the order of things or a major change in outlook will depend on how far the National Front minister for petroleum and chemicals, M S Gurupadaswarny is willing to go in confronting the pharmaceutical industry which has, to all intents and purposes, established a stranglehold on the department. Already there are reports that the bureaucracy is up in arms against the minister's proposals for a change in the drug policy. In any case, the NF government is particularly vulnerable to arguments of industry being displeased. And, as if to emphasise this further, some drug companies are pointedly giving an appearance of either winding up the production of what they call uneconomic products or of reconsidering planned new investments in the industry.