-The Times of India Get ready to shell out more for your train journey and several other services provided by the government — from parcels to patents. Pawan Kumar Bansal, the new railway minister, on Monday hinted at an increase in passenger fares with a caveat that it was not meant to earn a profit for the state-run transporter. "Fares will not be increased for the sake of increasing fare. If fare...
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Board to study draft for RTE in pre-school, secondary education-Vishwas Kothari
-The Times of India PUNE: The much-anticipated extension of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009, to the pre-school and secondary education may still take time to come through. The act, which at present covers primary and upper primary schools, provides for free and compulsory education to children between the ages of six and 14 and directs government, aided and non-minority unaided schools to reserve 25% of...
More »Nuclear safety before vendor interests-MV Ramana and Suvrat Raju
-The Hindu The question that must be asked, is whether India is willing to compromise on its laws and the safety and rights of its citizens to protect the business interests of reactor suppliers In 2010, under pressure from multinational nuclear suppliers, the Manmohan Singh government pushed through a law to protect them from the consequences of a nuclear accident. The law makes it impossible for victims to sue the supplier, even...
More »Deadly disease, desperate measures -Aarti Dhar
-The Hindu The government has approved a Rs. 4,038 crore programme to tackle the Japanese encephalitis and acute encephalitis syndrome in 60 priority districts With thousands of young lives being lost and an equal number of children rendered disabled for life, the government has prepared a comprehensive strategy to tackle Japanese encephalitis (JE) and acute encephalitis syndrome (AES). The dreaded disease has already spread to 17 States affecting 171 districts. With the Cabinet...
More »India Puts GM Food Crops Under Microscope-Ranjit Devraj
-IPS News Environmental activists are cautiously optimistic that a call by a court-appointed technical committee for a ten-year moratorium on open field trials of genetically modified (GM) crops will shelve plans to introduce bio-engineered foods in this largely agricultural country. “We are now waiting to see whether the Supreme Court will accept the recommendations of its own committee at the next hearing on Oct. 29,” said Devinder Sharma, chairman of the Forum...
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