In the largest act of philanthropy by an Indian, Wipro chairman Azim Premji will give about Rs 8,846 crore ($2 billion) to improve school education in India. Other donations to charitable institutions by any person or corporation in India pale in comparison to this massive endowment. It effectively silences critics who say Indian billionaires are measly donors compared to foreign counterparts, and that they focus on big-name western universities rather...

Thirteen Dalit families living under an open sky for the past two months at Satpuda village in Chittaurgarh district of Rajasthan after their houses on the government's surplus land were destroyed by the people of dominant castes have demanded action against the culprits and land allotment under the ongoing “Prashasan Gaon Ke Sang” (administration with villages) campaign. Influential people of Satpuda demolished the houses of Meghwal and Kalbelia Dalits settled for...

NIIRA RADIA, the lobbyist at the heart of India’s audacious multi-billion telecom swindle, inaugurated a Krishna temple she funded in south Delhi on her birthday — that, interestingly, coincides with Indira Gandhi’s. Those present on the occasion said Radia prayed for long, presumably seeking divine intervention to wriggle out of the country’s biggest scandal. Before the temple visit, notices from the country’s Enforcement Directorate (ED), Income Tax (IT) Department and the...

Bengal is among three states that have opposed a human resource development ministry proposal to set up a national watchdog to monitor school textbooks adopted by education boards. The other two dissenting states are Gujarat and Orissa. Fourteen states and Union territories have supported the idea, though. The ministry had sought the opinion of the states and the Union territories on the proposal to set up a National Textbook Council (NTC) that...

Haryana, reeling under a skewed sex ratio, is faced with yet another startling fact – an NGO has found that girls are being "bought" and brought to Haryana from 20 states across the country. The state's sex ratio stands at 837 in the 0-6 years age group, its lowest in the last five years and second only to Punjab. In one case, the family of a girl from Bihar was paid...