-PTI Washington: United States has selected the 23-year-old Delhi gangrape victim for the International Women of Courage Award. The award would be presented posthumously by the First Lady Michelle Obama and the Secretary of State John Kerry, on March 8, an official announcement said yesterday. "For millions of Indian women, her personal ordeal, perseverance to fight for justice, and her family's continued bravery is helping to lift the stigma and vulnerability that drive...

-The Business Standard Nuclear Power Corp of India Ltd (NPCIL) has denied allegation by a Sri Lankan interest group that the Kudankulam plant in Tamil Nadu was leaking radiation, and said the phase 1 of the project would be ready soon and power production would start by April-end. The Sri Lankan group, the People's Movement Against Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant, on Saturday alleged that the plant had been leaking radiation since February...

-PTI The protest-hit Kudankulam town, where two 1,000 MW nuclear reactors are at an advanced stage of commissioning, was on Thursday allocated Rs 150 crore for carrying out various development works. Finance Minister P Chidambaram made the allocation for 'Neighbourhood Development Project (in Kudankulam)' in the Union Budget. The amount has been set aside 'to provide relief and rehabilitation to project affected people of Kudankulam area in Tamil Nadu', the budget documents stated. The...

-The Hindu By allowing futures trade in food and diversion of farm land for commercial purposes, the UPA government is fuelling the price rise International agencies are warning of high food prices on a global scale in 2013 if urgent action is not taken. But our government shows little concern. The President’s address to Parliament had only a cursory mention of inflation. “Inflation is easing gradually, but is still a problem,” he...

-The Hindu Effective spending, reworking the affiliation system and breaking academic bureaucracy are key to better universities Although Indian higher education suffers from many dysfunctionalities and the system overall is characterised by “pinnacles of excellence in a sea of mediocrity”, it does reasonably well by some international comparisons. Here are a few examples: — India is a global leader in terms of GDP spent by public and private sources on higher education. India...