-The Hindu When knowledge gained is not acknowledged, and the textbook is considered the sole source of answers, education becomes a foreign language. A critique of rote learning is an educational cliché. Much has been written about it and almost every educator will passionately argue against it. However, the textbook still continues to be the holy grail of learning. You can participate in activities, test yourself, memorise information and learn. But don’t...

-The Indian Express “Due to the large-scale deforestation, there has been a significant drop in the amount of rainfall received,” said Subimal Ghosh, a faculty member associated with the study. Mumbai: DEFORESTATION AND conversion of forest land to crop land has weakened the monsoon in India, a study by a Team from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)-Bombay has found. The Team from the Interdisciplinary Program in Climate Studies of IIT-B studied...

-The Indian Express The GI tag is used to identify various kinds of goods including Darjeeling Tea, Kanchipuram silk saree and Kolhapuri chappal. When Krishnakumar Tomar, one of the first to grow basmati in this fertile belt, harvested his crop 14 years back, he had no idea where to sell it. With no local takers for the aromatic paddy, the 40-year-old from Badi, which falls in Raisen district, was told he could...

-PTI Major rivers are flowing above danger mark; NDRF Teams sent to Varanasi, Allahabad and Ghazipur Ten persons were killed and lakhs affected due to floods in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal, where major rivers are flowing above danger mark on Wednesday. Two boys were feared dead after they were washed away in flash floods in the Tawi river in Jammu on Wednesday. In Uttar Pradesh, two persons were killed in floods...

The state of Jharkhand has been in the news recently but for the wrong reasons. The NREGS workers who worked for constructing dobhas (small farm ponds) across the state during April to June 2016 have been treated unfairly by the officials in the sense that they were not paid their due wages, alleges a group of local activists. Despite complaints being made by the aggrieved workers, no action has been...