-The Telegraph IIT faculty today invoked Jawaharlal Nehru to protect the schools’ autonomy, accusing the Union HRD ministry of “political interference” by proposing a single engineering entrance exam. The IIT faculty federation issued a statement saying its fight was “to protect the academic excellence and autonomy of the institutions envisioned by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru from any political interference”. The statement, issued by faculty federation secretary Atul Mittal, came a day after HRD minister...

-The Hindu After a prolonged struggle with low enrolment rates for children in the school-going age, India now has to come to grips with another crucial issue: poor learning outcomes for students in the six to 14 age group. National data on this is not comprehensive, but available empirical evidence points to weak achievements for a significant percentage of students. In rural India, which is more disadvantaged, the highest level of...

A war of words has erupted between the chief ministers of Bihar and Gujarat. Bihar's chief minister Nitish Kumar has slammed Narendra Modi for taking potshots at the state's slow socio-economic growth. The altercation began with Modi saying that caste politics has ruined states like Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. Hitting back, Nitish has said that Modi should look at the conditions in his own state before criticising others. For the last...

The odds of an El Nino phenomenon developing in July through September and potentially affecting the Indian monsoon are dead-even at 50-50, offering hope that India's agriculture and economy may yet escape a crippling blow.  A stuttering economy has seen heightened attention on the Pacific warming, known to disrupt the southwest monsoon, as poor rains this year can be a further brake on growth, jeopardizing bonus farm production recorded in recent...

India has decided to throw its weight behind the civil society on issues related to family planning, and articulate its rights-based approach at a summit scheduled in London in the next few weeks. India has kept away from planning family policies since the 70s, and incorporated population stabilisation programmes in the health policies focussing on sexual and reproductive health rights and women's empowerment. While the Centre has discouraged a targeted approach...