-IANS   Breaking the stereotypes associated with madrassas, a 50-year-old Islamic seminary here teaches subjects like personality development and home science, runs an elaborate teacher training programme, has a higher girl enrolment ratio and has students who are no less active on social networking websites than their counterparts in the metros. Welcome to Jamiatul Falah, a madrassa in Bilariyaganj town of Uttar Pradesh's Azamgarh's district that has kept pace with modern education. The...

-IANS For 25 years, Mohammad Ikram worked day and night in Saudi Arabia to fund the education of his four sons back home here, waiting for the day they would be able to stand on their own feet. But they dropped out of school and ruined his hopes forever. He is just one of many men in Azamgarh who left their families to eke out a living and support the education of...

-The Times of India   The state chapter of Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind that is planning a huge rally on January 5 at Nizam College grounds demanded on Tuesday that madrassas (religious schools) in the country be kept out of the purview of the Right to Education Act. Jamiat's state unit president Hafiz Peer Shabbir, who is also a member of the Legislative Council, told mediapersons that the government had not yet evolved a...

Most developing countries have a love hate relationship to foreign investment. They love the jobs that it creates, the technology that it accompanies, the additional choices that it provides, and the local millionaires/billionaires it creates through creative phased restrictions. On the other hand, since many developing countries have a colonial heritage, and cash is concentrated amongst developed world MNCs, the host are wary of it. The more nationalistic elements within a country...

-The Times of India   The National Human Rights Commission took cognizance of a TOI report about clinical trials of a sexual dysfunction drug conducted by Indore's government doctors on mentally-ill patients in private clinics. The commission issued a notice to the Madhya Pradesh chief secretary asking him to submit a report within four weeks. The NHRC also directed the chief secretary to inform if the doctors followed ICMR guidelines while getting approval...