-PTI Language papers will be of qualifying nature, marks won't be counted for ranking Following a nationwide controversy over the changes it had suggested in the civil services mains Examination, the Union Public Service Commission on Thursday dropped the requirement of mandatory English language paper. The UPSC, whose move to give added weightage to English language, led to uproar within and outside Parliament and forced the government to keep it in abeyance, has...

-The Indian Express   Lucknow: The Akhilesh Yadav government today launched the Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Gramin Awas Yojna by distributing cheques of the first instalment of financial assistance promised to the rural poor for constructing pucca houses under the scheme. According to the scheme, the state government will provide Rs 1 lakh to rural poor who do not own a pucca house. The state government will give an additional Rs 15,000...

-The Hindu Those opposing Justice Katju’s suggestion of minimum qualifications for journalists are out of touch with reality Some years ago, the journalism entrance test at a career development institute in Mumbai had this objective-type question: Kofi Annan is (a) a Nigerian footballer (b) lead singer of a Sierra Leone pop group (c) a Sri Lankan delicacy (d) Secretary-General of the United Nations. The 100-odd candidates who appeared for the test were...

-The Business Standard Kolkata: Abhijit Vinayak Banerjee, Ford Foundation International professor of economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has slammed the government's Right To Education (RTE) programme. This, he said, was only a step towards ensuring a means of livelihood for teachers. Banerjee said the programme, implemented in 2009, lacked sense. He said he wasn't hopeful about the outcome of the initiative. "It is simply for the teachers, by the teachers,...

-The Indian Express Thirty-four years after the death of 20-year-old Kanchanbala from 100 per cent burn injuries, and 27 years after her case led to changes in the dowry law, the Delhi High Court has upheld the conviction of her husband for abetment to suicide. In a verdict on the eve of Women's Day earlier this month, the court linked it to his demand for a scooter made two days before Kanchanbala's...