-The Indian Express Experts are divided over the stand taken by the State Education department to exempt the unaided minority schools from the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act 2009 while releasing the admission schedule for the academic year 2013-14. While some experts have termed the decision in contrary to the enabling provisions of the Act, others are describing it as in conformity with the Act. In chapter...

-PTI At least 34 more deaths were reported from Uttar Pradesh as cold wave conditions continued unabated in North, East and Central parts of the country, even as temperature soared slightly in some places. The national capital witnessed a chilly but sunny morning with the mercury rising a bit during the early hours. There was a shallow fog in the morning hours and the minimum temperature was recorded at 4.4 degree Celsius, three...

-The Hindu Despite the continuing national outrage over the brutal gang rape of the 23-year-old student in Delhi, a small minority on the fringe has said, in a case of blaming the victim, that women are also responsible for the sexual crimes against them. The latest to join their ranks is self-styled spiritual leader Asaram Bapu with his suggestion that the gang-rape victim should have prayed to god and begged with...

-The Times of India Even as the nation pushes and the government debates lowering the age limit in juvenile crimes in the light of the Delhi gang rape, National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data shows that most juvenile crimes are committed by those in the age group of 16-18 years. Notably, the minor accused in the Delhi gang rape, who was allegedly the most brutal among the six accused, is 17...

-The Economic Times The government has done well to scale down the initial reach of the direct cash transfer system of handing out subsidies. Direct benefit transfer (DBT), as it is called now, will cover only 20 districts and seven scholarship schemes instead of 51 districts and 34 schemes planned earlier. Limiting coverage makes eminent sense. It is better to do a thorough job than to fumble at a mammoth task,...