One of the most comprehensive survey of learning achievement of class V students by NCERT shows that mean achievement of children of Uttar Pradesh in language and mathematics is highest in the country.  In environmental studies, UP students are a close second after Tamil Nadu (72.30%), with a mean score of 67.15%. In all respects - performance of girls, rural children and percentage of children getting more than 80% - UP...

 The North Dinajpur district administration has started the proceedings to return more than 70 acres of land to its rightful tribal owners in Ramganj. This is the first time that the administration has taken up the initiative to Restore illegally occupied tribal land, an official claimed. On January 16, the subdivisional officer of Islampur, Partha Ghosh, wrote to the district project officer-cum-district welfare officer to begin the proceedings for Restoration of the...

The government’s recent actions in notifying the Intermediary Guidelines for the internet with minimal public debate have resulted in the creation of a legal system that raises as many problems as it solves. The regulations as presently notified are arguably unconstitutional, arbitrary and vague and could pose a serious problem to the business of various intermediaries in the country (not to mention hampering internet penetration in the country) and also...

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...

-PTI   At a time when the issue of quota for backward class Muslims has stirred a political controversy, National Minority Commission chief Wajahat Habibullah has made a strong plea for granting Scheduled Caste status to Muslim and Christian Dalits to get them reservation benefits.  Referring to the Constitution Order of 1950 that asks for inclusion of those Dalits, who converted to Buddhism and Sikhism in the SC category, Habibullah said, "Our case...