-DNA Now, even private minority unaided schools will have to take in 25% children from the weaker sections. The central government has issued a notification enforcing the latest amendment in the existing Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act (2009). Following the notification, the state will soon enforce the amendment across all schools except theological schools such as madrassas and vedic pathshalas. DNA had exclusively reported about the amendment on August...

-The Hindustan Times Indira Gandhi National Open University, India’s largest distance learning varsity, allowed over a dozen private firms to offer its degrees and diplomas, violating rules and costing the public exchequer over Rs. 300 crores. The CBI is set to probe a series of MoUs signed by IGNOU under its former Vice Chancellor VN Rajasekharan Pillai with private firms that earned crores offering IGNOU degrees between 2006 and 2011, agency sources said.   Pillai,...

-The Hindu Not only has the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) defended its position vis-à-vis allegations that it is exceeding its constitutional mandate, it has also been vindicated by the then former Finance Minister, Pranab Mukherjee. At an Economic Editor’s Conference in 2011, he said, “I am making it clear that I do not think the CAG is exceeding its jurisdiction, because the basic responsibility of the CAG is to identify...

-The Indian Express A high profile institute-cum-think tank in the heart of New Delhi’s diplomatic area in Chanakyapuri, set up on land allotted by the then Narasimha Rao government, a clutch of former intelligence officials running the place, and a group of well-known RSS swayamsewaks — they are the silent force behind the recent anti-corruption movements in the country, especially the one led by Baba Ramdev. In fact, it was at the...

-Economic and Political Weekly The anti-corruption movement’s antics have weakened other movements for accountability. The recent fast-unto-death by members of “Team Anna” (a self-proclaimed name which has always sounded pompous even if loved by a media looking for a catchy t­itle) thankfully ended without any calamity on the advice of a group of “eminent” citizens and with a promise to carry on the “movement” in the political sphere. Many commentators have, rightly,...