-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Prior police verification for issue of fresh passports may soon be a thing of the past, with the ministry of external affairs (MEA) proposing to rely on aadhaar card for identification of the applicant and on the National Crime Records Bureau's (NCRB) database for validation of his/her criminal antecedents. With the applicant's self-declaration on aspects like citizenship, criminal antecedents, criminal proceedings, summons/warrants etc also thrown...

-The Telegraph Bhagalpur: The state government has urged Bihar Agriculture University (BAU), Sabour, and Rajendra Agriculture University (RAU), Pusa, to spread community radio network in their respective areas. At a time when Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself connects with India over radio now and then, the state government's effort goes to show how radio remains indispensable for the common man. The state government's effort would help update farmers with agricultural practices by adopting...

-The Hindu Millets in one's diet can help prevent diabetes,says Dr. Vijay Viswanathan Diabetes mellitus is a metabolic disorder in which a person has high blood glucose (sugar), either because of inadequate insulin production, or because the body's cells do not respond properly to insulin, or both. Prolonged exposure to diabetes damages important organs like the eye, the kidney, the heart and nerves, as the result of damage to small blood vessels. Heredity,...

-The Business Standard CVC says provide protection to officer, investigate corruption; MCI president denies all allegations Union health minister Harsh Vardhan has kicked up yet another controversy by ordering the removal of the chief vigilance officer of the Medical Council of India (MCI), H K Jethi, instead of providing him protection after he complained of harassment and threats. This is the second time Vardhan has decided to remove an anti-graft officer. Earlier, he...

-The Times of India Jagdish Bhagwati and Arvind Panagariya, hereafter BP, have argued for phasing out the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act in favour of cash transfers ("Rural Inefficiency Act", ToI, 23 October). It's surprising-and amusing-that two eminent economists have chosen to make a case based on prior beliefs and some sophomoric wordplay ('mis'leading economists), rather than on the available evidence. A survey by one of us of the empirical literature...