The parliamentary standing committee on human resources development has recommended a coordinated exercise by the National Council for Teacher Education and Union HRD ministry to fill the visible gaps in availability of teacher education institutions in the country.

With prolonged disruptions in the Monsoon Session of Parliament apparently weighing heavily on his mind, vice-president Hamid Ansari on Saturday disapproved of such conduct by legislators and told them that when protest becomes habitual, it loses its novelty and effect.

After bearing the ignominy of being the state with the lowest sex ratio in the entire country for decades, Punjab now claims a dramatic increase in the number of girl children compared to 798 girls per 1000 boys reported in the 2001 Census. State health and family welfare minister Lakshmi Kanta Chawla, on Saturday, quoted new,

The Organisation Committee of the Commonweath Games 2010, headed by Mr Suresh Kalmadi, is heading for further trouble with the UK government writing to the Indian high commission in London seeking a probe into an alleged scam involving the CWG.

Karnataka high court Chief Justice P.D. Dinakaran, facing impeachment proceedings in Parliament following allegations of corruption and land grabbing, was on Friday transferred to Sikkim.

Terming the situation in Jammu and Kashmir as “not yet normal”, Union home minister P. Chidambaram on Friday said efforts are on to hold a “quiet dialogue” with all shades of opinion in the Valley.

The government and the Opposition managers, especially the BJP leaders, are working on a face saving draft to end the week-long deadlock over the price rise issue in Parliament.

The Press Council of India on Friday recommended amendment to election laws to declare any payment for publication of news as a corrupt practice. The PCI has also asked the Election Commission of India to set up a special cell to receive complaints about “paid news”.

Five political parties lost their status as state parties on Friday, according to the Election Commission. They are the Janata Dal (United), Samajwadi Party, Pattali Makkal Katchi, Marumalarch Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and the Arunachal Congress Party. Mr Lalu Prasad Yadav’s Rashtriya Janata Dal lost its status as a national party following its poor performance in the last Jharkhand elections.

It will take not five but around 20 years to make India slum free. The government on Friday admitted before the Parliament that the high-powered Deepak Parekh Committee, constituted to suggest guidelines for implementation of the ambitious Rajiv Awas Yojana (RAY), has recommended that the “duration of RAY should extend beyond five years to 20 years”. The government further said that based on the recommendations, the guidelines for the scheme are being revised.