-The Telegraph New Delhi: The Press Council of India has sought a clarification from the Union government over a gag order the home ministry issued last month to restrict media access to senior officials. In a letter sent yesterday to the information and broadcasting ministry, the council, the statutory body to regulate the print media in the country, sought an explanation on why a "section of the central government had asked senior...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: Education ministers and representatives from every state today pressed for revoking the no-detention policy till Class VIII and bringing back the system of performance based promotions that the Right To Education Act had done away with five years ago. The meeting of the Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE) also heard suggestions to make Class X board exams compulsory. Ministers from 19 states and representatives from others said the...

-The Times of India ALLAHABAD: The Allahabad high court on Tuesday took a serious note of the pathetic condition of primary schools in the state and directed the chief secretary to ensure that children/wards of government officials/servants, those serving in the local bodies, representatives of people and judiciary, etc., send their wards to these schools. "Only then would they be serious enough to look into the requirements of these schools and ensure...

-The Telegraph The Supreme Court today told the Centre to respond within four weeks on whether it had set up a panel, as a two-judge bench had ordered, to monitor if its directive on regulating government advertisements was being followed. The court's order to form such a three-member body of persons - "unimpeachable" in their "neutrality" - had come on May 13, but the government is yet to constitute such a panel. Hence...

-Ideas for India In 2007, Bihar introduced the coupon system in PDS to curb leakages at fair price shops. This column argues that even though the administrative logic of the coupon system is fundamentally sound, such reform can be effective only when accompanied by institutional transformations that broker change in the existing local politics of inclusion and exclusion.  The performance of Bihar’s public distribution system (PDS) remains a topic of considerable national...