-The Hindustan Times Millions of parents and their children may soon no longer have to bear the risks associated with unregulated playschools with dubious teaching methods and crumbling infrastructure that often charge high fees but fail to deliver on promises. The human resource development (HRD) ministry, headed by newly appointed MM Pallam Raju, on Thursday got state governments to agree to expand the Right to Education Act (RTE) to cover preschools. Under...

-The Economic Times The Supreme Court on Thursday asked the government to immediately explain why it is restricting the sale of airwaves in the upcoming auctions, and not selling all spectrum vacated by the 122 licences whose permits were cancelled earlier this year. But the apex court clarified that the upcoming airwaves sale process, scheduled to begin on November 12 ,would not be deferred, even as it asked the telecom department to...

-PTI To protest land acquisition for Welspun Energy Madhya Pradesh Limited's (WEMPL) proposed thermal power plant in Katni district, farmers in two villages have set up funeral pyres on their fields and threatened to set themselves on fire in case of any coercion. "Nearly all farmers of Bujbuja and Dokaria villages have set up funeral pyres in large numbers on their lands to protest the acquisition of land for the WEMPL plant...

-The Business Standard Clamp down on burning of waste, industrial smoke Come winter, and Delhi is wrapped in a blanket of smog. It isn’t pretty. Also, it poses grave environmental, health and transportation hazards. Winter seems to have come early this year, and so has the smog. The economic costs are considerable: the winter schedule of airlines and trains invariably goes haywire owing to poor visibility. People breathe in more particulate...

-The Times of India The mystery of the missing detail in official files on why some coal block applicants won while others lost out is proving to be the biggest hurdle in the Centre's bid to ward off the threat of the Supreme Court scrapping all allocations. Aware that an unfavourable verdict on Coalgate will be a body blow to its bid to push-start the economy, the government is planning a careful...