-The Hindu The Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) cannot hold the prospects of the country's hearing impaired ransom to the whims of a single individual head of institution. In a patently regressive move, the premier university has recently decided to shut down the Indian Sign Language Research and Training Centre (ISLRTC) from the current academic year. This, despite the growing emphasis on signing as a language to bridge the...

-The Hindu With every passing controversy, we’re learning to redefine our rights, says Baradwaj Rangan This is the story of two YouTube videos. The first one came up bare hours before I sat down to write this, and it featured an actor, a producer, a director announcing to a media gathering that he was now homeless in every sense. His new production, the one that had sucked up his life’s savings, still...

-The Economic Times Buffeted by a series of big-ticket scams, the Government is readying to sponsor sleuths and vigilance officers to the world's first Master's degree in anti-corruption studies, being launched in Vienna this December. The department of personnel and training has written to all ministries, state governments, Central Bureau of Investigation and the Central Vigilance Commission, informing them that the government is willing to fund the candidates for International Anti-Corruption Academy's...

-Economic and Political weekly Drawing on the research on basic education in West Bengal, this essay argues the case for a much criticised public education system, which needs to be reconsidered as regards its potential as a provider of quality education, even while addressing its many failings. The essay follows an approach, both critical and constructive, that underlines the collective onus of the public in realising the value of the public...

-The Hindustan Times Indira Gandhi National Open University, India’s largest Distance Learning varsity, allowed over a dozen private firms to offer its degrees and diplomas, violating rules and costing the public exchequer over Rs. 300 crores. The CBI is set to probe a series of MoUs signed by IGNOU under its former Vice Chancellor VN Rajasekharan Pillai with private firms that earned crores offering IGNOU degrees between 2006 and 2011, agency sources said.   Pillai,...