-PTI The Supreme Court on Wednesday directed the centre and state governments to provide basic infrastructure, including drinking water and toilets, in all schools within six months. A bench headed by Justice K.S. Radhakrishnan fixed the time limit and asked the governments to take steps to provide the basic facilities in schools across the country. The bench said that all its previous directions pertaining to providing infrastructure should be implemented within the...

-PTI Pawar resigned after reports alleged his involvement in Rs 20,000 crore irrigation scam Maharashtra Governor K Sankarnarayanan today accepted the resignation of Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, who quit following reports about his alleged involvement in a Rs 20,000 crore irrigation scam. Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan met the Governor this morning and handed over Pawar's resignation. "The Governor has accepted Ajit Pawar's resignation as recommended by the Chief Minister," a Raj...

-Outlook Tharu tribals residing in 300 forested villages surrounding the Valmiki Nagar Tiger reserve in Bihar's West Champaran district are likely to be displaced if a proposal to increase the area of the tiger reserve is implemented. The tiger reserve area is proposed to be increased from 335 square kms at present to 599 square kms to create a core and buffer zones, an official of the sanctuary said. CPI(M-L) Liberation leader Kumar...

-Bloomberg It wasn't the Gettsyburg Address -- unless it's poker faces we're comparing. Future historians aren't going to be parsing Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's speech for hidden meanings, and rhetoricians won't be delighting in the majesty of its style and the compression of its effects. It inflamed no passions, as did Mitt Romney's words about the "47 percent," and asserted no big idea or thesis, unless there was one contained in the...

-The Times of India BANGALORE: Competitive parenting has reached a new level, with parents taking the RTI route to lay their hands on the Secondary School Leaving Certificate (Class 10th) answer scripts of their kid's classmates. The Karnataka Secondary education Examination Board, which conducts the exam for over eight lakh students every year, is in a fix. Following a spike in such applications, it has written to the Karnataka government seeking...