The 97th Indian Science Congress is in session at Thiruvananthapuram (January 3 to 7, 2010), the capital of the state of Kerala. For me, every session of the Congress is a new experience; an experience of learning and re-dedication to the cause propounded by the country’s first Prime Minister, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. It is a matter of pride for the scientific community in the country that it is the Prime...

The Right to Free and Compulsory Education Act was billed to be a giant leap towards universalization of education in India. However, it has acquired the dubious distinction of being the only fundamental right that exists just on paper. More than seven years after the Constitution was amended in 2002 to make free and compulsory education to children in the age group of 6-14 a fundamental right and over four...

India may next year witness its first census since Independence that refers to caste, if the Centre accepts a social justice ministry recommendation that could be politically controversial. Officials said the ministry had asked for caste to be included as one of the criteria in the 2011 census, and recommended a differential headcount of the Other Backward Classes and reassessment of their conditions that could lead to changes in the OBC...

The finance ministry has quietly initiated the process of opening up the income tax files of politicians belonging to all parties and tallying their income statements with the affidavits filed by them with the Election Commission during the 2009 Parliamentary polls. Verification of the assets declared by the Lok Sabha candidates, many of whom have now become MPs and even ministers, will help the department to assess if they had...

The first meeting of the Group of Ministers (GoM) to consider two bills on educational reforms will be held on January 6. The GoM, chaired by Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, will consider the bills — one to provide for establishment of educational tribunals and another to provide for prohibition and punishment for adoption of unfair practices in technical educational institutions and universities. The Educational Tribunals Bill and the Prohibition of...