Symbiosis College of Arts and Commerce postpones event after ABVP protests screening of Sanjay Kak’s Kashmir film Close on the heels of the cancellation of author Salman Rushdie’s visit to the 7th Jaipur Literature Festival due to the storm over The Satanic Verses, documentary filmmaker Sanjay Kak had to bear the brunt of Hindu fundamentalists. “Voices of Kashmir”, a seminar at the Symbiosis College of Arts and Commerce, Pune, stands indefinitely postponed...
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RTE delay rap on Bengal by Basant Kumar Mohanty
The Centre is irked by the lackadaisical attitude of Bengal, Gujarat, Karnataka and Goa in notifying rules under the Right to Education act even two years after its enforcement. The Union HRD ministry has decided to tick off the states for the delay in notifying the rules, key to implementing the RTE law that provides for free and compulsory education to children between six and 14 years. Kapil Sibal will next week...
More »Online push for distance learning by Basant Kumar Mohanty
A government-appointed panel has suggested launching online higher education courses, a step experts said would not only widen access to knowledge but also check irregularities in distance learning. Apart from permission to universities and deemed universities to offer courses through the Internet, the committee has recommended that the government set up a Distance Education Council of India (DECI) as regulator. Fourteen open universities and 172 other institutions now offer distance education to...
More »UGC fails to spend cash, wants more by Basant Kumar Mohanty
The University Grants Commission has demanded a four-fold hike in funds allocation in the 12th five-year Plan to create 10 million additional seats in higher educational institutions. The demand has come in spite of the higher education regulator managing to spend only 50 per cent of the Rs 46,449 crore allocated in the 11th Plan three months before the period ends. The UGC has submitted a detailed report to the HRD ministry,...
More »Anna Hazare trust accused of diverting funds by Dhananjay Mahapatra
-The Timee of India Council for Advancement of People's Action and Rural Technology (Capart) had given a grant of Rs 1 lakh to Anna Hazare-led Hind Swaraj Trust (HST) for watershed development in three villages in 1999-2001 but more than 90% of the money was spent on honorarium, travelling, printing and stationery, the Supreme Court was told. Responding to a PIL filed by advocate M L Sharma alleging that large amounts of...
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