-The Indian Express Union Minister of State for HRD Jitin Prasada on Wednesday said that the 12th Five-Year Plan would focus on quality in education. He was speaking at a function after releasing the India Infrastructure Report - 2012 at Modern School, Barakhamba Road, here. The minister stated that though the government is "thankful" to the private sector for their efforts in higher education, private institutes have become "money minting institutions" and should...
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A crumbling fourth pillar, and the forgotten politics of boycott -Manav Bhushan
-Kafila.org In a speech delivered at the Reuters memorial lecture in November 2012 at Oxford University discussing the Indian news industry, Prannoy Roy candidly said that ”Indian news is currently in a race to the bottom”. He further added that upon comparing the average TV viewership in India (1 hour) to that in the US (5 hours), one is led to the utterly dismal conclusion that this race is far from...
More »A committee to ‘administer’ a ‘market price’ for gas-Sunjoy Joshi
-The Hindu In his article in The Hindu (editorial page, “Making a mockery of domestic gas pricing,” January 18, 2013, Surya P. Sethi attacks the gas pricing formula proposed by the Rangarajan Committee, curiously enough, for being based on numbers from foreign markets that do not reflect the supply, demand or cost of production in India. I say “curiously” because on the exact opposite side, domestic producers are also pillorying the committee’s...
More »West Bengal fares poorly in MNREGS-Sayantan Bera
-Down to Earth Only 25 days of work provided per family as against the guaranteed 100 days of work; wages paid late in 55 per cent cases District administrations in rural West Bengal are resorting to innovative ways in their hurry to spend funds allocated under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee scheme (MNREGS). In the Maoist-affected West Midnapore district, petty contractors are doing the earth work earmarked for MNREGS with...
More »The question of casteism still remains-K Satyanarayana
-The Hindu Contrary to what Nandy’s defenders would have us believe, his corruption remark reinforces negative stereotypes about Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes The controversy around Ashis Nandy’s casual remarks at the Jaipur Literature Festival did not address a number of important questions of public concern. The frenzied ‘Save Nandy’ campaign that followed has actually foreclosed any productive discussion. His supporters have been trying to explain and contextualise Professor Nandy’s flippant remarks...
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