-The Times of India CHENNAI: Scientists and academics have joined the chorus of protest against what they say is the systematic spread of intolerance and communal hatred in the country. They have expressed their concern in a petition addressed to the President, which they plan to post to his office in a day or two. About 135 scientists from leading academic and research institutions across the country and abroad have signed the...

-PTI Anindita Mukherjee had requested the authorities to address her as “Mx” in her certificates and the university, which has probably become the first Indian educational institution to do so, accepted the “fact”. In a first, the NALSAR Law University in Hyderabad has issued a gender-neutral graduation certificate to a student who did not wish to be identified with honorific Mr or Ms but with “Mx”. Anindita Mukherjee, who graduated this year from...

-The Indian Express Why do women make better primary school teachers? If that question stumped many candidates who wrote the University Grants Commission's National Eligibility Test on Sunday, one of the multiple-choice answers listed for the question has outraged many. Because women "are available on lower salaries", said one of the four possible answers. About eight lakh candidates wrote the test across the country to qualify for junior research fellowships or university level...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The Centre is mulling setting up five universities with 50% seats reserved for religious minorities, a "Muslim outreach" by Congress ahead of the 2014 elections. The universities will come up in the hubs of Muslim and Christian population in five states. "These universities will have 50% reservation for minorities with socio-economic backwardness as key determinant. Minorities are not just religious groups but also social groups as...

-The Telegraph A panel of experts has watered down a proposal by the UPA government to set up five minority universities, citing legal hurdles. The committee, headed by Indian Council of Social Science Research chairman Sukhadeo Thorat, has suggested that the institutions be set up as central universities with their focus on minorities, instead of minority institutions as proposed. The committee submitted its report to the minority affairs ministry last month, a senior...