-The Hindu A proposed legislation to make the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) a statutory body, the draft of which is in circulation among the States for comments, has made Education Department officials of States apprehensive. They fear that it will result in hundreds of elite schools affiliated to the Board going completely beyond their monitoring mechanism. While the rules of the Right to Education (RTE) Act give an important role...

-The Telegraph The Centre has threatened states that it would stop funding and withdraw the amount already given along with interest if projects under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) are not finished on time. Sources in the Bengal government said the Centre had allotted Rs 1,700 crore for 69 projects under JNNURM, of which Rs 158 crore has been released so far. The sources in the state government and in...

-The Indian Express Osama Ibrahim arrived in Hyderabad a month ago with very specific requirements: he wanted to marry a girl below 20; he would pay Rs 1 lakh to her family as bride price; the marriage would last a month; and that he would leave the country after a divorce. The 44-year-old Sudanese engineer, who has a wife and two children back home, had no problem finding what he wanted. At...

-The Business Standard The right to speak freely implies no corresponding obligation for someone else to give you a platform to exercise that freedom The circumstances of Mr Modi's invitation by a students' association at the University of Pennsylvania's business school, and subsequent un-ceremonious un-invitation following protests, are well known. What is less clear is the correct interpretation of what happened. Mr Modi's supporters, and even some who don't support him, have cried...

-The Times of India KOCHI: The Kerala high court has ruled that the Arya Samaj cannot conduct marriages between people if they are not followers of the samaj and it will not be legally valid if it takes place. Arya Samaj mandirs are found in all Indian cities and towns and solemnize love, arranged, inter-religion and inter-caste marriages. The ruling was given by a division bench of justices Pius C Kuriakose and P...