-NDTV After an NDTV story which showed a Class 6 textbook that says meat-eaters cheat, lie and commit sex crimes, the Central Board for Secondary Education (CBSE) has said that school books used across the country are not monitored for content. "We only recommend books for Class IX onwards. Books are chosen by individual schools. There is no monitoring of content of school books," CBSE chief Vineet Joshi told NDTV today. He was...

-Outlook The issue of FDI in retail is expected to generate a storm in the Winter Session of Parliament beginning next week, with the Left parties today announcing their decision to move motions entailing voting to oppose the government's proposal. At a time when BJP and several other parties have also opposed FDI in retail, the Left Leaders said they have appealed to all parties to support the motions in both Houses...

-Outlook Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh today said public health system in the country had "collapsed", noting that even poorer countries like Bangladesh and Kenya have superior health indicators. In a candid assessment of the country's health sector, Ramesh also said 70 per cent of the health expenditure is met from private sources, making it a "unique" country. This was the "single most important" reason for indebtedness in rural areas, he...

-The Hindu Pokhari village in Maharashtra’s Buldhana district continues to reel under a spate of farmer suicides. From 1998 till now, nothing seems to have changed A phone call informing him about the twin suicides of his father and older brother changed 23-year-old Sunil Wagh’s life forever. On September 28, his father Shivaji, 55, and brother Baliram, 28, hung themselves, Shivaji at his farm and Baliram at his home in Pokhari village...

-The Hindu The wretched outcome of the 2G spectrum auctions, netting just Rs.9,407.64 crore against a Rs.40,000 crore revenue target, has evoked predictable reactions from the Congress party. Its Leaders have indirectly mocked the Comptroller and Auditor General, the Supreme Court and the media for tying the government’s hands — instead of expressing concern about the impact of the failed auctions on investor confidence and India’s worrying fiscal deficit. Their gloating...