In a fresh controversy over how the Mamata Banerjee regime takes criticism, the West Bengal Higher Education Department has sought an explanation from two government college teachers whether they took permission to take part in television discussions, in which they allegedly expressed “anti-government views.”  Debasish Sarkar, associate professor of Economics at Jhargram Raj College, and Shampa Sen, head of the Department of Bengali at Hooghly Mohsin College, have been asked to...

-PTI   The Haryana State Information Commission has directed the state's school board to make available on its website the "answer key" to questions for exams taken by it in future.    Disposing of an RTI appeal of a Bahadurgarh resident seeking the answer key to questions of the Haryana teacher Eligibility Test in which he appeared in November 2011, State Information Commissioner Urvashi Gulati said provision of the answer key would avoid unnecessary...

-The Hindu The Central Advisory Board of Education has decided to constitute a committee to revisit the ‘no detention' provision under the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009. The panel will submit a report in three months. The Advisory Board, at a meeting on Wednesday, also endorsed the government's initiative to create a Credit Guarantee Fund to provide better flow of credit to deserving students. The Rs. 5,000-crore...

The state higher education department has issued a notice to Bengal Government College teachers’ Association general secretary and noted economist Debashis Sarkar, asking him to explain why he made “anti-government comments” on TV. Sarkar, who teaches at Jhargram Raj College, is often invited to panel discussions on Bengali channels. The notice was issued after a retired college teacher, Subrata Panda, wrote to Education Minister Bratya Basu on May 26 alleging that Sarkar...

-Live Mint   Rural development minister Jairam Ramesh is advocating a new approach to fighting the Maoist insurgency that has gripped 78 districts so far. Apart from development and security, the approach involves politics and justice, he said. In an interview, Ramesh warned that in the rush to attain high growth rates, India was placing the interests of tribals below that of mining firms. The minister suggested the setting up of a...