-Live Mint   Instead of testing theoretical knowledge, the problem-solving tests examined how students could use their knowledge in practical situations New Delhi: Asian countries led by Singapore took the top seven spots in the latest Programme for International Student Assessment (Pisa) report on problem solving capability among 15-year-old students, released by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) on Tuesday. "Students from Singapore and (South) Korea have performed best in the first...

-The Business Standard   Prime Minister Manmohan Singh can be assertive when he chooses to. He has certainly imposed his will on the government to push the case for the controversial genetically-modified (GM) food crops. Documents reviewed by Business Standard show, for almost two years, Singh and his office have been the moving force behind the decision to go ahead with field trials of GM crops, including food crops, without awaiting regulatory reforms...

-Down to Earth One-third of India's population are migrants, but the country is yet to make a policy or plan for them, says collaborative study report by Institute of Social Sciences and UNICEF As many as 309 million people, nearly a third of India's population, were migrants according to the 2001 Census. But the only ‘right' which they are able to exercise is the one that allows all citizens the right to...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Be it the urinal which saves 1,51,000 litres of water every year and draws out of the excrement phosphorus - a mineral which India imports - or the Rs 120 cholesterol test which otherwise costs Rs 5,800, or even the low-cost cellphone-size hemoglobin meter that must surely be a boon to a country in which an overwhelming proportion of maternal deaths result from malnutrition-triggered anemia,...

-Deccan Herald The world is not ready for climate change, which poses a number of serious risks, says the planet's leading body of climate scientists. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) at its conference in Yokohama, Japan recently released a major report on the impact of climate change, with the goal of spurring world leaders to act more decisively to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The report warns of serious impacts...