-The Telegraph New Delhi: Human resource development minister Prakash Javadekar has announced plans to integrate 1,000 hours of compulsory skill Training with the academic activities of undergraduate students to make them employable. But some academicians expressed fears that the move might dilute the main course for which they had enrolled themselves. "The BA, BCom and BSc students will get 1,000 hours of professional Training. They will get 250 hours of Training on soft...

-The Hindu Activist sought copy of proposed amendments An activist has accused the government of “illegally” withholding information about amendments proposed to the Right to Information Act, 2005, after her plea seeking details about the procedure followed was turned down. RTI activist Anjali Bharadwaj wrote to the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) last month demanding to know when were the amendments to the Act proposed and forwarded to the Union Cabinet. She...

-TheWire.in Veteran IAS officers agree there is a need for greater specialisation in the civil services, but are unhappy with the cut in recruitments over the years and the move to bypass the UPSC system. New Delhi: The Centre’s move to allow lateral entry into empanelled bureaucracy has opened up a complex debate that has been ongoing for, at least, the last two decades. While a big chunk of the civil servants...

-TheWire.in Has Switzerland’s eagerness to export its vocational Training and education model to India led to an unsatisfactory compromise that ultimately hurts the battle against poverty: granting a private company exclusive rights to the curriculum developed with Swiss taxpayers’ money? This year, India and Switzerland will celebrate 70 years of a Friendship Treaty that was signed by the two countries in 1948. A decade ago, the 60th anniversary of the Treaty was...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: The bureaucracy - both serving and retired - may be divided over the Modi government's bid to institutionalise lateral entry, but there is consensus that the UPSC should conduct the recruitment for the 10 joint secretary posts that have been opened up to people outside the system. The failure of the department of personnel and Training to mention who would be conducting the recruitment for lateral entry in...