-The Hindu The Rajya Sabha on Thursday passed a crucial Bill that extends the time limit from three to six years for providing reservation to the Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled Tribes and the Other Backward Classes in the Central education Institutions. The Bill also seeks to add a proviso that if there are Central educational Institutions in a tribal area, the State seats in those Institutions shall have reservation for the SCs,...

-The Hindu The India Meteorological Department announced on Thursday that the coming monsoon would “mostly likely” be normal. The average rainfall would be 99 per cent of the long period average [LPA], with a model error of plus or minus five per cent. There was a 47 per cent probability of the rainfall being between 96 per cent and 104 per cent, 24 per cent probability of its being between 90 and...

-The Hindu “Hectic lobbying by private interests in education is responsible for Karnataka being a laggard among Indian States in implementing the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act,” said a senior government official on Thursday. Karnataka and Goa are the only States that are yet to notify rules that will enforce the legislation that guarantees education as a fundamental right to all children aged between six and...

-The Telegraph The government today told a Constitution bench that the right to freedom of speech was for the “benefit” of the public, not the media, as it backed the Supreme Court’s attempt to lay down norms for reporting judicial proceedings. “Freedom of speech is not for the benefit of the press but for the benefit of the public,” additional solicitor-general Indira Jaisingh said, marking a shift from the cautious stand the...

LUCKNOW: In a significant order passed by the Central Information Commission, inspection reports of banks can be disclosed under the RTIAct. And, the Reserve Bank of India cannot deny disclosing the report stating that it can have ill-effects on the economy. The CIC's order came in a case pertaining to Kanpur-based United Mercantile Cooperative Bank Ltd. in its order, the CIC stated that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) should disclose...