-The Business Standard But beef up safeguards for genetically modified crop trials Environment Minister M Veerappa Moily has made the right move by overturning the untenable position taken by his predecessors on field trials of genetically modified (GM) crops. Around 200 gene-altered varieties of different crops will now be allowed to be field-tested, subject, of course, to certain necessary conditions. This could, depending on the outcome of the trials, clear the way...

-The Business Standard The recent US-India friction over trade is being driven by Big Pharma Apart from the deterioration of the business environment generally, which impacts both domestic and foreign investors, retrospective taxation has figured most prominently in the media as the principal cause of growing scepticism among foreign investors. Entirely missing from the discourse has been an equally potent factor with wholly foreign origins: the hijacking of the economic policy...

-The Indian Express A state-wise break up of learning levels, however, indicates that the traditional BIMARU states have much to catch up even now compared to their southern counterparts. Even as independent surveys continue to point fingers at the quality of education being imparted in Indian schools, the National Council Of Educational Research And Training (NCERT) Friday released its National Achievement Survey (NAS) for Class III that indicated quite otherwise. Released...

-The Hindu     No significant difference between rural and urban outcomes The government's own assessment of how much children are learning in schools says that 86 per cent of children in class III can recognise words in their own language and 69 per cent can do simple numerical additions. Maharashtra and the four southern States, Tripura, Mizoram and Manipur perform better than the national average on both tests. The findings of the third...

-IANS About 65 percent of Class 3 children are able to listen and respond to language correctly and 86 percent are able to recognise a given picture, Human Resource Development Minister M.M. Pallam Raju said here Friday. "About 65 percent of the children were able to listen and respond correctly and about 86 percent of the students were able to recognize a given picture," he said citing a survey. "In mathematics, 70 percent...