Table of Contents
Rogue(दुष्ट) nation?
West must find some means to bring
Russia to the negotiating table
Russia made headlines for all the wrong reasons this week
InAfghanistan, accused Russia of armingTaliban militants;
On North Korean crisis helping Pyongyang avoid UN sanctions;
EU last year voted to extend into 2018 sanctions – Crimea
In Syria, Iraq
U.S. expelled more than 100 (EU also)- Its diplomats and
intelligence officers
Nerve agent attack on a Russian spy and defector to the U.K.,
Sergei Skripal, and his daughter Yulia, in Salisbury on March 4
ColdWar-West, perhaps led by the U.S. or the EU, find some
means to bring Mr. Putin to the negotiating table
A game – changer for higher education
Union Cabinet’s decision recently to not only continue with the Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha
Abhiyan (RUSA) Centrally sponsored scheme launched in 2013
Ground realities
India is estimated to have over 800 universities (over 40,000 colleges are affiliated to them).
About 94% of students of higher education study in 369 State universities.
But the Central slant toward premier institutions has continued ever since the 11th Five
Year Plan (2007-12), where in spite of a nine-fold increase in Budget allocation State institutions
have been left to fend for themselves with funding mainly directed towards starting more Indian
Institutes ofTechnology , Indian Institutes of Management and Central universities
150 Centrally-funded institutions (less than 6% of students study in them) corner almost the entire
funding by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD)
Make things worse, investment by State governments has been also dwindling each year as higher education is a low-priority area.
The University Grant Commission’s system of direct releases to State institutions which bypasses
State governments also leads to their sense of alienation.
Address these critical concerns that the MHRD launched RUSA.
Conditional release of funds linked to reforms in the key areas
Governance,
Learning-teaching outcomes,
Reaching out to the unreached and
Infrastructure support.
Unlike other schemes which are foisted on State governments in a one-size-fits all manner, under
RUSA, States and institutions have to give an undertaking expressing their willingness to the
idea of reform – RUSA is a process-driven scheme
Its design and conceptualisation were finalised through extensive consultations with all
key stakeholders, especially State governments.
RUSA can prove be a real game changer for higher education in the country.
It has not only reprioritised country’s needs, from funding just a few premier institutions
to reaching out to institutions at the bottom of the pyramid, but has also changed the way
regulators need to function.
However its litmus test will be in how impartially scheme is administered by MHRD.
THE WEDNESDAY INTERVIEW | ROMILA THAPAR
“History is not written by committees but by indivi
dual historians‟
Committee formed by Ministry of Culture
Secularism is not something external to our lives that
we can do away with as and when we choose.
It is an attitude towards other people
What worries me most is the consistent effort to
destroy the content of education.
The very backbone of a society is based on education
But the act of questioning should not become more
important than what is being questioned.
Map Practice
Prelims Focus Facts-News Analysis
Honour killing guillotines liberty: SC
Upholds choice of consenting adults to love and marry as part of their fundamental rights.
Prelims Focus Facts-News Analysis
Karnataka will vote on May 12
Results to be declared on May 15.
Prelims Focus Facts-News Analysis
Talks revived to consider impeachment of CJI
Some Opposition parties have revived the process of discussing the moving of an
impeachment motion against Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra
With just a few days remaining in the Budget session
Not a single data breach in seven years, UIDAI tells SC
GST collections dip marginally
Prelims Focus Facts-News Analysis
Prelims Focus Facts-News Analysis
Prelims Focus Facts-News Analysis
“Congress was Cambridge Analytica‟s client”
Whistleblower says the company ‘worked extensively’ in India.