-Sify News   A single bamboo stick holds the thatched roof together, the discoloured floor serves as both bench and chair, the kids SIT in neat rows and a man SITs on a printed mattress. It is from humble rooms like this that a quiet education revolution is unravelling in this eastern Uttar Pradesh district that was associated in public memory not long ago for alleged involvement of some of its youth...

Three bills the Centre has lined up to regulate higher education have been described as “draconian” by private institutions, which fear their enactment will bring the segment under a “police raj”. Two of the bills provide for jail terms and stiff fines to ensure that colleges and univerSITies obtain accreditation before — and not after — starting courses and refrain from making exaggerated claims to attract students. For instance, under the “unfair...

Two of the three Bengal agencies tasked with procuring paddy directly from farmers have failed to do so till now because of lack of funds, a revelation that blunts the state government’s attempt to blame the Centre. Paddy procurement is one of the purported issues over which the Congress and the Trinamul Congress have been calling each other names. The state government had pointed fingers at the Centre-run Food Corporation of...

-The Hindu Anti-Kudankulam nuclear power plant activists have come out with a new proposal for finding solution to the impasse by suggesting that the nuclear plant can be converted in to a thermal plant through technical modifications. Stating that they are aware of the precarious power SITuation in the country and the need for more power generation, the activists said that they are determined to oppose nuclear power tooth and nail but...

The much-vaunted NREGA has defaulted on many of its promises “There are many households in our village who have NREGA cards but have not sought work for over two years,” says 32-year-old Umesh Kumar, gram pradhan of Bhainswal village, in Muzaffarnagar district of Uttar Pradesh. In fact, Kumar recounts having to actually go around persuading people to come for work “whenever we get projects for implementation under NREGA”. This first-time...