The state government and private school administrations in the state are at loggerheads with the government reiterating its stand to implement the Right to Education (RTE) Act 2010 strictly in Bihar. As many as 15 schools belonging to the Association of Heads of Christian Schools (AHCS) which includes Don Bosco Academy, St Karen's High Schools, St Xavier's School, Christ Church School, St Dominique Savio, Notre Dame Academy, St Joseph's Convent,...

Corruption and inflation, the bugbears of UPA-2, dominated discussions Congress functionaries held with finance minister Pranab Mukherjee amid expectations from the party that a populist Budget would help check the negative tide against the Centre. Party leaders are hoping specifically for income tax relief for the middle class and concessions for rural populace as the budgetary antidote to the negativity post-2G spectrum scam. Mukherjee assured his party that prices would come down...

Environment minister Jairam Ramesh tied himself in knots on Monday to defend the guidelines his ministry had issues on turning national parks and sanctuaries into inviolate critical wildlife habitats, bypassing provisions of the Forest Rights Act. Even as his statement contradicted the guidelines issued by the environment ministry on February 8, Ramesh defended them claiming that `news reports' against the fresh set of rules were `misleading'. TOI had reported how the...

Despite partial decontrol of two classes of fertilisers from April last year, the total fertiliser subsidy requirement for the fiscal is likely to go up by about Rs 10,000-15,000 crore from the Rs 54,981 crore already provided as fertiliser consumption has shot up due to a good monsoon. Besides, importers of phosphatic and potash fertilisers have recently raised prices in line with rising global prices. The finance ministry is likely to...

The 50-year-old farmer knew from experience that his onion crop was doomed when torrential rains pounded his fields throughout September, a month when the Indian monsoon normally peters out. For lack of modern agricultural systems in this part of rural India, his land does not have adequate drainage trenches, and he has no safe, dry place to store onions. The farmer, Arun Namder Talele, said he lost 70 percent of...