Past two months saw B D Sharma negotiating release of high-profile hostages by the Maoists in Odisha and Chhattisgarh. TV viewers saw and heard Sharma, probably for the first time. Widely respected in the civil society, he has been championing the rights of tribals for four decades now. He served as collector in the undivided Bastar district of Chhattisgarh in the 1970s, after which he quit the Indian Administrative Service....

In an attempt to rein in fly-by-night operators who have set up shops in India, the Universities Grants Commission (UGC) has made its approval mandatory for all collaborations between foreign and Indian educational Institutions. The new regulations approved by the UGC on Saturday give existing Institutions six months to get approval. The UGC has also laid down dual criteria to ensure that quality academic Institutions are allowed to run joint degree...

Doing a course from global top universities such as Harvard, Peking or Oxford, while being in India, will soon be a reality. Country’s higher education regulator, the University Grants Commission, on Saturday opened doors for world top 500 universities to start dual degree or twining courses with Indian higher education Institutions. The commission approved regulations also gave six months to higher education Institutions in India running courses of foreign universities to...

With the Central government unsure of getting the Foreign Educational Institutions (Regulation of Entry and Operations) Bill, 2010, through the Rajya Sabha, the Human Resource Development Ministry is now trying to allow “backdoor” entry to foreign Institutions. The Ministry has asked the University Grants Commission (UGC) to identify possibilities within the existing laws of regulating and allowing the foreign educational Institutions. The two possible ways of going about it are allowing these...

-The United Nations   Indigenous foods which have been neglected by the food industry and urban consumers can be an important tool to alleviate hunger and malnutrition, a United Nations official said today. “The focus of research and crop improvement on a few widely consumed crops has helped meet the food needs of the rapidly growing world population, but it has narrowed dramatically the number of species upon which global food security and...