-The Telegraph New Delhi: A rough comparison between a government survey of all the country's campuses and a more limited scan earlier by the Rajinder Sachar committee suggests that Muslims' participation in higher education has seen little improvement over the past decade. Sachar, a retired judge, told The Telegraph the latest findings buttressed his view that the UPA government had failed to adequately implement its educational schemes for the minorities, announced after...

-The Hindu The National Democratic Alliance government has just introduced a cess of 0.5 per cent on all taxable services for the Swachh Bharat campaign. In February 2016, it will introduce a 2 per cent cess on airfares for all domestic flyers except those flying to remote locations, and international travellers. This cess is meant to fund losses that airlines may incur in connecting to hinterland locations. The Central government loves...

-Hindustan Times The Chennai floods have thrown up some fundamental flaws in our system of urban planning. Across India, city after city has experienced floods, while some others live with the fear of impending disasters. In Mumbai, flooding was caused by wrong developments at the Bandra estuary and negligence along the Mithi river, and in Uttarakhand the disaster was caused by unplanned regional development and the unholy nexus between the land...

In its performance audit of the Mid Day Meal Scheme (MDMS) carried out in 27 states (except Mizoram) and 7 Union Territories (UTs) during the period 2009-10 to 2013-14, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India has observed that the provision of noon meals in public schools could not stop children's enrolment in private schools because quality of education imparted is a major concern among the guardians. (Please check the...

-The Hindu Jaipur: It’s been over a year since minimum qualifications for contesting local body polls were made mandatory in Rajasthan. Though the law did give a chance to the educated youth to replace seasoned local leaders, it has also barred a major section of the rural population from contesting the polls. In December 2014, Rajasthan promulgated the ordinance, which became the Rajasthan Panchayati Raj (Second Amendment) Act, 2015 on April 1...