-The Times of India NEW delhi: India on Thursday made light of a US Congressional report on International Religious Freedom 2014 which said India witnessed "religiously motivated killings, arrests, riots and coerced religious conversions". "The report is internal to the US administration. It is widely acknowledged that the Constitution of India guarantees equal religious, social, political rights to all its citizens including minorities,'' said MEA spokesperson Vikas Swarup. "Any abuses are handled by...

-The Times of India NEW delhi: RTI activists led by Aruna Roy will boycott PM Narendra Modi's inaugural speech at the Central Information Commission's annual convention on Friday to protest against the exclusion of several RTI users and activists from the event citing security concerns. Only a handful of activists including Nikhil Dey, Lokesh Batra, Venkatesh Nayak, Anjali Bhardwaj and Shekhar Singh have been invited for the convention. Traditionally, civil society representatives...

-The Times of India NEW delhi: The Central Information Commission (CIC) has registered a 94.61% drop in the number of cases in the last two months with an average daily number plummeting from 223 cases in January-July to 12 cases in August-September 2015. There are eight information commissioners including Chief Information Commission (CIC) Vijai Sharma. Disposal of cases has also come down by 11% from an average of 99 cases a day...

-The Times of India NEW delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday permitted citizens to voluntarily use Aadhaar cards to avail benefits under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, along with Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana and schemes related to pension and PF after the government promised that absence of Aadhaar would not debar people from benefiting from the schemes concerned. The relief came from a bench of Chief Justice HL...

-The Hindu An OECD study shows that better technology in classrooms does not always translate into better learning outcomes. It is time for Indian policymakers to do some soul-searching on our over-reliance on technology in education and the resultant neglect shown to teacher training.The new-age administrators believe that the Internet can address all pedagogic needs. They do not understand curriculum policies or examination reforms. Nor do they appreciate the progressive initiatives...