BACKGROUND Monitoring progress with disease and injury reduction in many populations will require widespread use of verbal autopsy (VA). Multiple methods have been developed for assigning cause of death from a VA but their application is restricted by uncertainty about their reliability. METHODS We investigated the validity of five automated VA methods for assigning cause of death: InterVA-4,...

Non-tariff measures are pervasive. In the area of merchandise trade, although tariffs have fallen worldwide, there has been no shortage of bureaucratic imagination in conceiving new non-tariff measures, or in turning existing regulatory instruments to protectionist ends. In the area of services trade, there is also a growing realisation that domestic regulatory regimes designed to address legit...

Flat rate regime is held responsible for this state of affairs and a shift to universal metering is being pushed as remedy. However, metering can work only by creating power retailing entrepreneurs as is being tried out in Orissa. Flat tariff regime can also serve the purpose, provided it is tied to effective supply policies. Judicious rationing and reasonable tariff are essential components of...