Reputable foreign institutions may not come to India if a provision in a proposed law preventing them from taking back surplus from education activities is retained, a parliamentary panel has said. The Foreign Educational Institutions (Entry and Operations) Bill prescribes a time-bound format for granting foreign universities approvals but bars them from repatriating profits. The bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha on May 3, 2010, and referred to the standing committee...

Land is contentious. With urbanisation and demand for non-agricultural use, coupled with lack of employment and skills for those in small-holder and subsistence-level agriculture, this is understandable. In western Europe, especially in Britain, and more especially in England, land markets were freed up before the Industrial Revolution and access to education and skills became more broad-based. We haven't introduced reforms that enable people to move out of agriculture, or diversify...

MP and AICC General Secretary Oscar Fernandes said Food Security Bill will be tabled before the Parliament at the earliest. Speaking to presspersons, he said the Bill will help in distributing rice at Rs 3 per kg and wheat at Rs 2 per kg for BPL families in the country. “Ombudsman and private agency will be strengthened to make a study on the implementation of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme....

Filmmakers, activists, journalists, aid workers, policy-makers and United Nations staff are gathering in New York this weekend for a two-day documentary forum aimed at raising public awareness about the fight against hunger worldwide. The third annual “Envision: Addressing Global Issues Through Documentaries” forum, which kicks off tonight, comprises film screenings and panel discussions centred on the themes of combating hunger and poverty, one of the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) that...

The Commonwealth Games were no showcase, but a mirror of India 2010. If they presented anything, it was this — Indian crony, casino capitalism at its most vigorous. The Commonwealth Games over, we can now return to those of everyday Indian life. For all the protests, though, there was nothing in the corruption that marked the Games that does not permeate every town and city, all the time. Just that, in...