-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 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...

-Outlook India has the potential to lead the world in creating just and equitable societies, the head of UN's women empowerment body has emphasised and said men and boys can play an important role in achieving gender equality. "We need India in the leadership in changing status of women. For me it is very important that India leads in the kinds of changes that you want to see see 20 years after...

-The Hindu The failure of Narendra Modi's infrastructure plan reflects the larger failure of the Indian imagination, a mindless enumeration of ideas that have little or no bearing on Indian reality. When much of what is built is a half-baked imitation of disparate items tried and tested elsewhere, it becomes hard to fault Mr. Modi. If the recent image of Prime Minister Narendra Modi swinging on the jhula with Chinese President Xi...

-Outlook Kanpur: Indian Medical Association (IMA) will be providing free medical facilities and create awareness about good health practices in the villages adopted by it under the 'Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana'. "We have been directed by the IMA headquarters to adopt villages here which will be visited by a team of doctors once in a month. "Free medical facilities will be provided to the villagers and a cleanliness campaign will be launched to...