-Reuters OSLO: Valuable mangrove forests that protect coastlines, sustain sealife and help slow climate change are being wrecked by the spread of shrimp and fish farms, a UN-backed study showed on Wednesday. About a fifth of mangroves worldwide have been lost since 1980, mostly because of clearance to make way for the farms which often get choked with waste, antibiotics and fertilizers, according to the study. Intact mangroves were almost always more valuable...

-The Telegraph Private universities have mushroomed across India, growing from just 10 six years ago to 145 today in a demand-driven surge that has drawn allegations of irregularities, including franchising out courses in violation of rules. Several academics have also questioned the standard of education in most of these varsities, set up by state legislatures through enactment of laws. “Private universities are created by state legislatures so the Government of India has no...

-The Business Standard The move is aimed at having a stringent regulatory system while bringing in uniformity in approach for pricing of drugs  The drug price regulator would now visit manufacturing facilities of pharmaceutical companies while fixing prices of essential medicines. The National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) has issued internal guidelines putting in place norms for verification of actual cost data, provided by companies, through plant visits.  The move is aimed at...

-MoneyLife.in If you were wondering why most of the recent major cases of corruption have not been exposed by opposition parties, especially the BJP, now you have the answer: they are all in it together. I am ready for any inquiry,” repeated Nitin Gadkari on every television channel where he brazenly defended the dubious shell companies and land allotment that propelled the growth of his ballooning ‘social entrepreneurship’. The irony is that Nitin...

-Mid Day Senior PWD officials in collusion with contractors used bogus bills to issue cheques to withdraw state funds from RBI; cops took six months to register FIR despite complaint in April.  Mumbai: One of the biggest scams in recent times has come to light at the state administration level, involving senior officials of the Public Works Department (PWD) and fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 112.58 crore from government accounts.  It is said that bogus...