INDIA’S higher education is going through a tumultuous period. A series of hastened ‘reforms’ are putting the very foundations of our public higher education at the brink of collapse. In last November, UGC had sent guidelines forcing all universities to implement the Choice Based Credit System (CBCS) from the 2015-16 academic session. It has now been followed by a ‘Make in UGC’ approach of preparing centralised syllabi for undergraduate courses, with universities being given just 20 percent deviation while preparing their own syllabi.

AN electoral upset was always on the cards given the ham handed way President Goodluck Jonathan was dealing with the key issues of corruption and terrorism. But previous elections were marked by widespread electoral fraud and vote buying. Besides, in the checkered history of Nigerian politics, no ruling party was ever defeated since the country gained independence in 1960. Regime change was always effected through the barrel of the gun not through the ballot box.

The 21st Party Congress of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) takes serious exception to the blatantly exclusionary and discriminatory policies being followed by successive Central Governments towards the rights and entitlements of the people of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. As a consequence of neo-liberal policy, the people of the Scheduled Castes and Tribes have also had to face a reduction of their legitimate share in national resources.

PRIME minister Narendra Modi had visited 18 countries in his first 12 months in office. Incredible! as, on an average, it makes one country for every 20 days! No wonder apologists for the BJP and Modi are trying to project 'foreign policy' as the government's biggest achievement.

CYBER weapons are no longer the stuff of science fiction. They are all too real, and so is their threat to our interconnected world. This threat is bound to grow in the coming days with the internet of things, when all our devices will have intelligence and be connected to the internet. If we want to stop the internet from being weaponised, we have to start talking about what nation states should or should not do.