When India  won its bid for the 2010 Commonwealth Games seven years ago, the event instantly became an emblem of national prestige. But as the country prepares to open the games on Sunday evening, an opportunity to burnish its global image has instead become a national embarrassment. The litany of problems plaguing the games — collapsed footbridges, filthy dorms, cartoonish corruption — have not only made headlines around the world....

The Adivasi Budhajivi Manch  has decided to oppose panchayat elections in Schedule Area of Jharkhand. The manch, a forum of intellectual tribals of the state, claimed that panchayat elections in Schedule Area is against the provision of the Constitution. The decision to oppose state government decision to organize panchayat elections was taken after a meeting of tribals from different parts of the state. The manch decided to initiate legal battle against...

The state government will require an additional 43,500 primary school teachers to implement the right to education (RTE) Act, 2009, in schools managed/aided by the government and civic bodies, a preliminary report by the state primary education department has revealed. Under the act, every child between 6-14 years of age will be provided eight years of elementary education in an age-appropriate classroom in his/her neighbourhood. According to the primary report prepared by...

The government’s subtle, but significant, move to divest the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) of its job of approving the genetically modified (GM) products and convert it into merely a GM appraisal body has taken the biotechnology sector by surprise. The Gazette notification to this effect replaces the word “approval” in the committee’s nomenclature with “appraisal”, thus making it the “Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee”. One obvious reason for doing so...

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: As many as 35 lakh families in the State are likely to figure in the below poverty line (BPL) list. The Centre is likely to approve the list. The process adopted by the Local Self-Government Department for identifying the families is understood to have been approved by the Centre. The system may be emulated in other States too. Time has come to initiate proceedings for the latest survey based on...