“We are extremely pained at the methodology adopted” The government on Friday described as “utterly erroneous and without any basis” the estimated loss of Rs. 1.76 lakh crore arrived at by the Comptroller and Auditor-General (CAG) on account of allocation of 2G spectrum to telecom operators. “We are extremely pained at the methodology adopted by the CAG for arriving at the [allocation loss] figures that have no basis,” Telecom Minister Kapil...

India’s government is preparing to conduct the country’s first comprehensive survey on higher education, according to a senior education official. While there are reliable statistics about primary and secondary schools, currently available numbers for higher education are severely inadequate, said Sunil Kumar, additional secretary for higher education at the Ministry of Human Resource Development. Addressing a conference organized by the Confederation of Indian Industry late last month, he said the survey would map...

A widening corruption scandal that has touched India’s prime minister sent the country’s stock markets down sharply on Friday and threatened to tarnish the country’s image as a rising economic power. Setting off the turmoil was a report from the country’s auditor earlier this week that about $40 billion in wireless spectrum license fees had been squandered by the government’s telecommunications and information technology minister. On Thursday, India’s Supreme Court criticized...

Under unrelenting pressure to act against corruption, the government on Monday swung into action. It said it would slap show-cause notices on 85 licence holders asking why their licences should not be cancelled for violating eligibility norms. It will also ask the ministry of corporate affairs to check if Swan Telecom acted as a front, as alleged by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India. The companies facing show-cause include Uninor,...

After months of debating the issue and seeking the law ministry's opinion, the HRD ministry on Tuesday finally issued guidelines about screening of children at the time of admission under the Right to Education Act. HRD minister Kapil Sibal said, "We have taken the law ministry's clearance to issue the guidelines on screening. The RTE Act will be amended later. Had we gone in for an amendment on screening now admissions...