-The Telegraph Teachers have backed a proposal to make aspiring civil servants’ English marks relevant to final selection but opposed suggested curbs to their freedom to write the other papers in their regional languages. The proposed reforms, notified by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) on March 5 for introduction this year, are being held in abeyance by the Centre following an uproar in Parliament. An expert panel had recommended the changes, one...

-The Hindu Widespread criticism of the changes notified recently by the Union Public Service Commission involving the language component in the Civil Services examination has forced the Union government to put those plans on hold pending review. The “language bias” allegation that has been made by almost all the detractors is centred on the perception that English has been given a more prominent place in the scheme of things compared to...

-The Hindu Despite severe opposition from civil society groups, the Union government has decided to cut the entitlement of a beneficiary to subsidised grain from 7 kg a month (as provided in the National Food Security Bill) to 5 kg under the Public Distribution System, as recommended by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Food. But it will continue providing the 2.3 crore beneficiaries of the Antyodaya Anna Yojna (the poorest of the...

-PTI About 20 per cent increase in wage inflation is building up price pressure on food articles and is posing a big challenge for RBI to cut policy rates, an industry body said today. "Near 20 per cent annual increase in the wage inflation in rural areas is building up price pressures on food articles like cereals, rice and wheat, and is posing a big challenge for the Reserve Bank which is...

-The Business Standard State governments yet to act on sorting MGNREGA wage delays If our salaries were delayed by two years, two months or even two weeks, how many of us would like it or put up with it? In Araria district in Bihar, workers under the Mahatma Gandhi National rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) complain of not receiving wages for the work done in December 2011. Says Anil Kumar Paswan of Parihari village...