How our dismal education scene is linked to our intolerance What’s common to the Salman Rushdie episode, India’s dismal educational scenario—as underlined by the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) and Pratham’s 7th Annual Survey of Education Report (ASER)—and its appalling ranking on the Global Hunger Index (GHI)? It’s clear even on the surface: a deep disconnect between India’s claims on democratic superpower status and its grim reality. If you probe...

-PTI The wives of ministers in the Nitish Kumar-led government in Bihar are richer than their husbands, details of movable and immovable assets declared by the ministers for the year ended December 31, 2011 have revealed. The property details of the ministers and their family members were Posted on the Bihar government website before the Assembly election.   The ministers, whose spouses have earned more movable assets, are: Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi,...

Facing criticism over project delays, the government has decided to get cracking and set up a dedicated forum to remove bottlenecks such as coal linkages and environmental and defence clearances that hold up projects.  Top government officials told TOI that following the meeting of the Prime Minister's Council on Trade & Industry last month, the department of industrial policy and promotion has been asked to identify projects and remove bottlenecks in...

Chief Justice of India SH Kapadia has asked the government to take "appropriate action" against at least 20 members of the country's top income tax tribunal who are on the CBI's radar for having allegedly 'outsourced' writing of judgments to private parties. Justice Kapadia is understood to have conveyed his displeasure to law minister Salman Khurshid over inaction on the issue since 2008, HT has learnt. Khurshid met the CJI earlier...

-The Indian Express Ever since the Unique Identification (UID) project rolled out, it has had to weather hit-and-run attacks. Concerns about privacy and budgets have been mounted from influential staging Posts in attempts to derail the project altogether by isolating the UID Authority of India within the government. Yet the promise of the project, aimed at offering every Indian a secure proof of identity, is so powerful that its momentum remains...