Gujarat schools to use biometric system to tackle absenteeism (Lead)

September 5th, 2009 KOLKATA - The central government's proposed reforms in education will lead to the closure of state-run schools, the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) said Saturday, demanding a nationwide debate on the proposed changes in the country's education system. "Kapil Sibal seems very active after getting the human resource development ministry in this (second United Progressive Alliance-UPA) government.

September 4th, 2009 GANDHINAGAR - Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi is expected to lead a business delegation to Oman later this year to discuss developing a port in the state with the Gulf nation's assistance, an official said here Friday. According to the official in the chief minister's office, Modi has accepted an invitation from Oman's Commerce Minister Maqbool Ali Sultan to discuss trade relations and building a port on Gujarat's coast.

September 3rd, 2009 GANDHINAGAR - Central intelligence agencies have cautioned Gujarat about an attempt by members of the banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) to regroup with a different name in the state, an official said here Thursday. "We have intelligence information on SIMI activists regrouping in Gujarat, particularly in south Gujarat, under the name of 'Wahadat-e-Islami'.

August 18th, 2009 GANDHINAGAR - The government should take up the project to link up major rivers across the country, as proposed during the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) rule, to tackle the spectre of drought, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi has urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. In a letter to the prime minister, Modi said the Gujarat government would need central funds for linking the Tapti and Damanganga rivers besides other small rivers in the state.

July 30th, 2009 NEW DELHI - State governments must give up their "chalta hai" (laid-back) attitude to improve the quality of education to take India to new heights, Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Kapil Sibal said here Thursday. The minister said there is up to 50 percent shortage of teachers in schools in various states.

July 28th, 2009 GANDHINAGAR - The Gujarat assembly Tuesday passed the Gujarat Control of Organised Crime (GUJCOC) bill, which had been returned three times by the central government. The GUJCOC bill was passed with only a minor amendment, of adding the word "terrorism" instead of "organised crime" throughout the bill as the Gujarat government does not have a single law exclusively to deal with terrorist activities.

July 4th, 2009 GANDHINAGAR - Gujarat agriculture officials met here Saturday to discuss the impact of scanty rainfall on groundnut, cotton and other crops. The state has also readied a contingency plan in case the monsoon eludes till July 10.

June 30th, 2009 GANDHINAGAR - The Gujarat government is planning to build a 1,460-km pipeline for the transportation of gas from the Krishna-Godavari (KG) fields off the Andhra Pradesh coast to other parts of the country. The state government has submitted a proposal in this regard to the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB), a senior official in the department of energy here said.

June 7th, 2009 GANDHINAGAR - Primary schools run by municipal corporations in Gujarat will soon mark the attendance of teachers and students using the biometric system to ensure that the records are not fudged, an official in the chief minister's office said Sunday. The move comes after a directive issued by Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi to the chiefs of all seven municipal corporations in the state.

May 25th, 2009 PATNA - The headmasters of four primary schools in Bihar's Darbhanga district were suspended for irregularities in the mid-day meal scheme for schoolchildren, officials said Monday. The headmasters were suspended Saturday after an enquiry found them guilty of corruption.

April 10th, 2009 GANDHINAGAR - As many as 558 people have filed nominations for the 26 Lok Sabha seats in Gujarat. The nomination papers were filed April 8 and 9, a senior poll official at the State Election Office said Friday.

April 9th, 2009 GANDHINAGAR - Gujarat has sought more paramilitary forces for poll duty, pointing out that the state has been on the terror map, an official said here Thursday. 'As of now, the central government has allotted 100 companies of paramilitary forces for poll duty in Gujarat against the state government's demand for 375 companies considering that Gujarat is a potential terrorist target,' the senior home department official told IANS.

February 8th, 2009 BHOPAL - Single teacher-run primary and middle schools, no headmasters in most schools and, more shocking, senior secondary schools till Class 12 managed by a single teacher - welcome to Madhya Pradesh's education system. According to the latest District Information System for Education (DISE) report, as many as 25 percent schools - one in four - in Madhya Pradesh are managed by only one teacher.

January 9th, 2009 AHMEDABAD - Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi wants a university proposed by a worldwide organisation of Jains to be set up in the state. 'We have three choices for setting up a university.

December 24th, 2008 NEW DELHI - The Right to Education Bill, introduced in the Rajya Sabha last week, proposing that schools cannot fail students until they complete Class 8 has received flak from teachers. 'What is the use of promoting children from one class to another if he (or she) does not have that basic competency level,' said Vandana Puri, Salwan Public School principal.