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Former Governor of Reserve Bank of India RBI Raghuram Rajan has very rightly raised concern of vote-catching gimmicks like loan-waivers for farmers which very adversely affect the economy and mute middle-class tax-payers, with farmers ultimately at loss by one-time advantage of availing gimmick loan-waiver. There must be a complete ban on such promises like subsidies, loan-waivers etc to be part of poll-manifestoes of political parties. Ultimate sufferer of such loan-waivers is mute category of middle-class tax-payer who has to bear burnt of additional taxes or cost-inflation due to deficit economy caused due to loan-waivers, subsidies or other schemes directly affecting public-exchequers. Even subsidy-system should be fast abolished in a gradual manner. Agricultural income over certain...

Presently Income Tax Department provides two types of numbers namely Permanent Account Number -PAN, and Tax Deduction and Collection Account Number -TAN. While PAN is to be obtained for every tax-payer, TAN is a special number required only by those responsible for Tax Deducted at Source -TDS. Those required to obtain TAN number have to go through cumbersome procedure of filing TDS returns every quarter even though tax is deducted at source only say once in a complete year. Moreover there can be cases where TDS provision may required to be used only once in several years. It troubles very much to such TAN holders who are unnecessarily compelled to file TDS returns as nil every quarter. Even Income Tax Department has to spend much on staff and other overheads for managing those registered u...

Retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) is one of the most common serious eye complications that occurs in premature babies. It can lead to incomplete blood vessel growth in the retina, and eventual loss of vision. A group of researchers in Hyderabad have identified a biomarker that can help in detecting the risk of ROP from just a drop of tear. Premature babies are administered oxygen to help them survive in incubators. This process, however, has to be monitored carefully as overexposure to oxygen can be highly toxic to blood vessels including those in the retina. Overexposure to oxygen in neonatal care is a major cause of ROP. Low oxygen levels in the retina when the child is out of incubator cause abnormal blood vessel growth in the retina, which in turn causes loss of neurons and vision lo...