The West Bengal government has decided to reserve 17 per cent seats in all government and government-aided colleges for students belonging to the other backward classes (OBCs), with effect from the coming academic session. This was announced in the Assembly by Higher Education Minister Sudarshan Roy Chowdhury on Thursday. “The question of reservation of seats in higher education to expand opportunities to OBCs has been under the consideration of the State government...

“To make democracy function effectively, we must have inclusive growth. Microfinance has given a choice to those who were earlier excluded from the traditional institutional mode of finance. Since more than 80 per cent of Indian farmers do not get loans from such institutions, emergence of micro-finance has been beneficial to the rural poor.” Dr Amiya Sharma, executive director of the Rastriya Gramin Vikash Nidhi (RGVN) opined this at the fourth...

The Bengal government today pushed through a controversial bill that will empower the state panchayat department to create a parallel school education system with nearly 20,000 rural schools. The West Bengal Panchayat Board of Education Bill had fuelled widespread concern at its conception itself but the Left government bulldozed the legislation through the Assembly today in the face of a walkout by the combined Opposition. At the root of the overdrive appears...

Sustainable and resilient cities should be focus of urban development An international conference here on Wednesday called for making the Indian cities “resilient” in the backdrop of climate change and taking care of the urban poor. “The urban poor are the most vulnerable to current climate variability such as regular floods and water shortage. Sustainable and resilient cities should be the focus of urban development,” D.B. Raju, executive vice-president (special initiatives),...

The Bengal government could have ensured a monthly scholarship of Rs 500 for nearly 22,000 poor schoolchildren in the state over the past three years, without any damage to its own pocket. Instead, it chose to help just about 3,000 get the scholarship.The National Means-Cum-Merit Scholarship, launched in 2008-09, looks to benefit about one lakh Class IX students every year. The State Bank of India pays the entire sum, which...