-Live Mint CBSE ties up with Pearson Education India, the local arm of British education company Pearson Plc, to conduct assessments New Delhi: Schools that follow the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) system are moving to better assess students' ability to grasp what they are taught in class and their readiness to move to the next level, at least partly out of concern over reports questioning the quality of India's...

-Live Mint Lack of decentralization means municipalities lack power, resources to meet rising aspirations of ‘middle' India Othakadai, Madurai (Tamil Nadu)/Hubli (Karnataka): S. Paramasivam , president of the Othakadai panchayat, has big plans for his area. "Rainwater harvesting, removal of encroachments on roads, waste recycling, covered drainage, bigger primary health care centres and community parks," lists the 58-year-old, who has spent 30 years in the stainless steel business that dominates industry...

-The Business Standard The Novartis verdict by the Supreme Court emphasised the importance of flexibilities in drug patent laws, in contrast to Western countries which are seeking TRIPS-plus hardening through free-trade agreements As curtains on the six-year-long legal tussle with Swiss drug giant Novartis AG finally came down earlier this month, the Indian government did not waste a second in hailing the Indian patent law which it said was in "full...

-The Indian Express   Rattanpura, Rajasthan: On May 22, 2006, orders were passed to release Jagdish, a murder convict lodged in Hisar jail. But it took almost seven years for the orders to be implemented. Jagdish, a resident of Rattanpura in Hanumangarh district of Rajasthan, was finally freed on April 6 this year. While nobody from his family was willing to stand surety for him, the Haryana and Rajasthan authorities engaged in a...

-The Business Standard It will make the coercive powers of the land acquisition law irrelevant, though including it in the central Bill would be unconstitutional The proposal to amend the central Land Acquisition Bill to provide for leasing of land rather than acquiring it is just not constitutionally feasible. Land is a state subject and the Centre cannot legislate on leasing at all. But as an idea it is great and should...