-Business Standard CUET has merit but pitfalls too The University Grants Commission has taken a broadly sensible decision to hold a mandatory Common University Entrance Test (CUET) for undergraduate admission to all 45 centrally funded universities from the upcoming academic year. This means Class XII board exam marks will be superseded for determining university admission in favour of an all-India exam on the lines of the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) for admission to...

-The Hindu City-based non-profit trains students to crack entrance exams to these institutions Bengaluru: Access to the national law universities (NLUs) in the country was earlier restricted to the well-heeled and students from big cities. However, the efforts of a city-based non-profit is helping bring diversity in these university campuses by ensuring that students from low socio-economic and disadvantaged backgrounds too get an opportunity to study in these institutions. Increasing Diversity by Increasing...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: A panel set up by the human resource development ministry has recommended a uniform syllabus in math and science subjects for Classes XI-XII across all senior secondary boards. The decision is likely to be implemented from the 2017-18 academic year, an HRD ministry official said. It is learnt that the recommendation is acceptable to all 30 senior secondary boards in the country. However, the panel headed by A. Ashok,...

-Economic and Political Weekly While insufficient sanitation facilities often get represented in statistics and are reported in the literature on urban infrastructure planning and contested urban spaces, what is often left out is the everyday practice and experience of going to dysfunctional toilets, particularly by women. By analysing the practices and problems associated with toilet use from a phenomenological perspective, this article aims to situate the issue in the everyday lives...

While welcoming the report of the High Level Expert Group on Universal Health Coverage for India for its comprehensive vision and many well-conceived recommendations, this article focuses on the conditions needed for its promise to bear fruit. Towards this, it explores the political dimension, which comprises the forces and interests that come into play to shape and reconfigure administrative policy and its implementation.   We are grateful to Anand Zachariah and Susie...