The first meeting of the Group of Ministers (GoM) to consider two bills on educational reforms will be held on January 6. The GoM, chaired by Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, will consider the bills — one to provide for establishment of educational tribunals and another to provide for prohibition and punishment for adoption of unfair practices in technical educational institutions and universities. The Educational Tribunals Bill and the Prohibition of...

A medical degree in 3-1/2 years? This could soon be a reality with the health ministry and Medical Council of India (MCI) planning a shorter medical degree for rural students who would exclusively serve the rural populace. The hinterland, where few doctors want to serve, could soon have a dedicated corps of medical practitioners drawn from among students raised in rural areas. After incentives failed to lure doctors to practise...

Copenhagen showed how fast and far India has traveled geo-politically. The same, alas, cannot be said about the health of the nation. On the international stage, India’s relentless focus on equity made us proud. The time has come to apply that principle at home. India’s ailing health delivery system is viewed as a worthy but dull topic on a normal day in a typical newsroom in the country. Typically, such neglected...

More than the return of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government to power, the aam admi will remember the year 2009 for the back-breaking mehngai and the inability of the government to make dal-roti, sabzi and chini affordable for the masses. The unprecedented rise in the price of essential commodities, particularly pulses, sugar, milk and vegetables turned the year bitter for the aam admi. What was irksome for the people was...

The health ministry has questioned the benefits to India of a proposed bill aimed at regulating the entry of foreign universities, unleashing the most scathing criticism the draft legislation has faced from within the government. The draft Foreign Education (Regulation of Entry and Operations) Bill contains loopholes that could deny India benefits to Medical education and could even hurt the sector, the health ministry has said. The criticism of the bill...