-The Times of India The government spent Rs 15.50 lakh on UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi's visits abroad between 2006 and 2011, according to data Accessed through RTI. The Prime Minister's Office on Friday had said the government did not incur any expenses on Sonia's travel. The statement sought to differentiate between spending by the government and cost borne by the Special Protection Group for the security contingent. The Rs 15 lakh spent is...

-The Telegraph Guwahati: A judicious mix of conventional and alternative sources of energy will take the region on a growth path, experts said at a panel discussion on Alternate Energy as a Solution to Power Crisis in the Northeast at the NICT which concluded here today. Participating in the discussion, A.K. Saikia, secretary of SECONE, an organisation working for the energy sector, said the region had great potential for alternative sources of...

-The Indian Express Conspiracy theories are a handy standby when one wants to avoid the effort of critical thinking. So Tavleen Singh would rather rely on “the foreign hand” — that old bogey out of Indira Gandhi’s box of tricks — than examine facts that reveal uncomfortable truths. Lamenting the closure of the Vedanta aluminium refinery at Lanjigarh, Orissa (‘Why India could remain forever’, IE, September 30), Singh asserts that, if...

-The Times of India  Strong control over morphine — a highly effective painkiller that has left millions of Indians in needless pain — has left India red-faced on the global stage. Calling use of opioid analgesics like morphine "sub-optimal" in India, the World Health Organization (WHO) on Wednesday asked India to immediately reassess regulatory requirements on the dispensing of essential medicines like morphine to ensure their wider availability and Accessibility besides sensitizing...

-IANS Protecting the interest of the common man, the Supreme Court Wednesday told the government not to disturb the existing retail price mechanism of drugs under the price control order while finalising the list of essential medicines. The judges observed that the prices of the drugs were so high that it left the patient with the option of either to die or buy medicines by selling one's land or ornaments. "The common man...