In addition, Sen said India was willing to donate essential medicines to the relief effort, noting that India has the largest number of Food and Drug Administration-recognized pharmaceutical companies outside the United States.

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Still, her professional services were considered an essential element of the medical regimen at India's famous Arya Vaidya Chikitsalayam, the Mayo Clinic of traditional Indian medicine.

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The poor are forced into a long or permanent bachelorhood, a status widely frowned upon in India, where marriage is deemed essential to becoming a full member of society.

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America, the European Union, China and India are advising citizens against all but essential travel to Mexico, where the virus seems to have originated.

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The groups have warned that the strike may worsen India's price pressures by disrupting the supply of essential commodities and lead to further acceleration in inflation.

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Gopal Dabade of All India Drug Action Network, an India-based non-profit group that works for access to essential medicines, said the ruling will allow Indian generic manufacturers to continue to supply Indians and consumers in other developing countries with cheap medicines.

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Sugarcane (from which all of India's sugar is produced) and sugar itself are classified as "essential" per the Essential Commodities Act of 1955, hence falling under the government's purview.

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The venture is run with little intervention from India (most of the project team is Australian), but aligning their thinking was essential, he says.

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