Former Army chief General Deepak Kapoor, now in the dock over the Adarsh housing scam besides a series of other defence land scams, has been denied an honorary doctorate that a Central government-run university wanted to confer on him. A Right to Information (RTI) application filed by The Indian Express has revealed that while the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) had submitted a proposal seeking to confer an honorary doctorate...

The Centre appears set to renege on its commitment to the Supreme Court that it would organise elections to a council that regulates traditional medicine whose members have clung to their positions for years, defying rules. At least 40 of the 48 elected members to the Central Council of Indian Medicine (CCIM) have held their positions for more than the scheduled period of five years. Among them, 17 have been members...

Twice every year, between 1981 and 2000, a helicopter would whirr around the hills of the Western Ghats in Kasargod, a district in north Kerala bordering Karnataka, spraying endosulfan over the cashew plantations on the upper reaches. Children would rush out to take a look at the helicopter and the white spray would settle like mist on their heads and on leaves and shimmer in the sunlight. But that’s also...

The chairman of the National Council for Teacher Education, a statutory body monitoring teachers’ education in the country, has been found guilty of corruption by a vigilance inquiry, sources said. M.A. Siddiqui is likely to be issued a chargesheet within a week. A professor from Jamia Millia Islamia University on deputation to NCTE since 2008, Siddiqui is also likely to be repatriated to the university after it wrote to the human...

A courier company in Mumbai shows the way in providing employment for the hearing impaired. IN the milling crowds of Mumbai, they stand apart with their orange T-shirts printed with the name Mirakle Couriers. Every day, during the busy hours of the working week, one sees them on the sidewalks, in public transport and elsewhere with large black bags slung on their shoulders. It would not be enough to say...