-The Hindu Effective spending, reworking the affiliation system and breaking academic bureaucracy are key to better universities Although Indian higher education suffers from many dysfunctionalities and the system overall is characterised by “pinnacles of excellence in a sea of mediocrity”, it does reasonably well by some international comPARIsons. Here are a few examples: — India is a global leader in terms of GDP spent by public and private sources on higher education. India...

-The Times of India Ranchi/ BOKARO: Maoist activities and presence of a number of splinter groups are deterring construction of new roads under Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) in the hinterland. Sources in the Jharkhand State Rural Road Development Authority (JSRRDA) said construction of a number of roads under the central scheme has either not started or has stopped due to Maoist problem. There are many places in Latehar, Gumla and...

-The Hindu The Supreme Court on Thursday restored the right of complainant and survivor Zakia Jafri to access all documents related to the SIT investigation that were submitted to the Supreme Court between May 2010 and July-August 2011 to enable her to file her protest petition against the SIT's closure report exonerating Chief Minister Narendra Modi and 61 others. A three-Judge Bench of Justices P. Sathasivam, Aftab Alam and Ranjana Desai directed...

-The Hindu In his article in The Hindu (editorial page, “Making a mockery of domestic gas pricing,” January 18, 2013, Surya P. Sethi attacks the gas pricing formula proposed by the Rangarajan Committee, curiously enough, for being based on numbers from foreign markets that do not reflect the supply, demand or cost of production in India. I say “curiously” because on the exact opposite side, domestic producers are also pillorying the committee’s...

-The Hindu Nanded police say they have received no complaint Adilabad: Vishwa Hindu PARIshad leader Praveen Togadia tried to outdo Akbaruddin Owaisi within a fortnight of the Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) MLA being sent to jail on charges of delivering a hate speech at Nirmal town in Adilabad district of Andhra Pradesh. At a public meeting at Bhokar town in Nanded district of Maharashtra, just 80 km from Nirmal, on January 22 — details...