-The Telegraph Teachers have backed a proposal to make aspiring civil servants’ English marks relevant to final selection but opposed suggested curbs to their freedom to write the other papers in their regional languages. The proposed reforms, notified by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) on March 5 for introduction this year, are being held in abeyance by the Centre following an uproar in Parliament. An expert panel had recommended the changes, one...

-The Hindu There is no Lokpal yet, but the Centre’s Grievance Redressal Bill promises to cut through bureaucracy and corruption that plague government services. The citizen is hoping for a repeat of the RTI Act story. A year after the UPA came to power in 2004, it brought the Right to Information Act, ushering in a revolution: citizens, for the first time, could access information under the control of public authorities, whether...

-First Post In an interview with Firstpost, Ajay Chhibber, Regional Director of the UNDP, tells us why India ranks low on the Human Development Index, below China, Sri Lanka and Iran, what we need to do to improve our standing and why welfare schemes are not to be blamed for poor growth or inflation. Excerpts from the interview: * Why does India lag other BRIC countries in the HDI ratings? Compared to the other...

-First Post Along with its dismal Human Development Index (HDI), India also has a very poor Gender Inequality Index, which is among the worst in the world, according to the latest UN Human Development Report released on Thursday. Except Afghanistan which stood at a rank of 147 compared to India’s 132, all countries in the South Asia region and also China were ranked way higher than it on the Gender Inequality Index,...

-The Indian Express Mindful of the fiscal challenge the national food security law is likely to bring, the government proposes to give itself the option of raising the price of foodgrains three years after the law is rolled out. To ensure that the UPA’s showpiece welfare legislation is not grounded because of opposition from the states, the food ministry is set to drop the provision for setting up a National Food Commission...