We need more higher education institutes: Tharoor

September 29th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The All India Engineering Entrance Examination (AIEEE), which paves the way for admission to top technology institutions like the National Institutes of Technology (NITs), will be held on April 25 next year. The exam would be conducted by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE).

September 8th, 2009 NEW DELHI - After being asked to leave a five-star hotel, Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor used the social networking tool Twitter to give his reaction, pointing out that he was spending his "own savings". "I wld be ashamed if I was spending the people's money.

August 20th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Union Cabinet today approved the proposal to amend the National Institutes of Technology Act 2007. The main features of the amendment are: incorporation of Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research (IISER) in the National Institutes of Technology Act 2007; need to strengthen existing transitional provisions of the Act; need to give representation to nearby premier Central Institutions in the Board of Governors; and need to amend the procedure for appointment of Deputy Directors in NITs.

July 24th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Union Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal Friday asked all the states to prepare a vision document within the next three months on the targets to be achieved in the higher education sector by 2020. "All state governments must prepare a vision document for higher education.

July 6th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Continuing its thrust on higher education, the union budget 2009-10 Monday proposed to allocate over Rs.21 billion for the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and the National Institutes of Technology (NITs). I am allocating Rs.2,113 crore (Rs.21.13 billion) for IITs and NITs, which includes a provision of Rs.

June 29th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Government on Monday said that the composite dialogue with Pakistan could be resumed only after Islamabad gives an assurance that Mumbai attacks like incidents would not be allowed to emanate from its soil. Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor, speaking in the national capital, said, "New Delhi is willing to engage in dialogue with Islamabad but it expects certain very positive actions from the other side that its territory will not be willfully used to do us harm." Tharoor also demanded that Pakistan should bring the perpetrators of Mumbai attacks to book, an action which would help in reviving the Indo-Pak dialogue.

June 23rd, 2009 NEW DELHI - On his first official foreign tour after assuming office, Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor Tuesday met with senior ministers of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) during his day-long visit to Dubai. Tharoor arrived in Dubai Tuesday on way to Yemen, where he will represent India at the council of ministers meeting of the Indian Ocean Rim Association for Regional Cooperation.

June 17th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Coaching institutes must be brought under the tax net as they seldom disclose their earnings, the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham) has said. In a note submitted to the revenue department of the finance ministry Wednesday, Assocham said coaching institutes were charging "astronomically higher fee without submitting proper accounts of their income to tax authorities".

June 2nd, 2009 PANAJI - The racial attacks on Indian students in Australia should prompt the Indian government to increase the number of higher learning institutions in this country, says Goa NRI Commissioner Eduardo Faleiro. Faleiro, a former union minister of state for external affairs, said while the attacks demanded the severest condemnation, India should convert adversity into opportunity.

May 27th, 2009 NEW DELHI -Shashi Tharoor, the former UN undersecretary general, will be sworn as a minister in Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's council of ministers Thursday. Sources close to Tharoor said he got a call from the Prime Minister's Office asking him to be present for the swearing-in ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhavan.

May 25th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Former diplomat and first-time MP Shashi Tharoor Monday said that he has stopped writing columns in newspaper and periodicals as he wants to concentrate on the problems of his constituency. "I have stopped all the columns," Tharoor told reporters here.

April 9th, 2009 CHANDIGARH - Indian students continue flocking to New Zealand for higher education and the number has increased by 300 percent in the last six years, says a diplomat from that country. 'India is a big market of talented students for us.

March 23rd, 2009 NEW DELHI - Shashi Tharoor has been appearing on TV talk shows taking questions ranging from what he wrote about Congress president Sonia Gandhi in a book to his plans for the Thiruvananthapuram constituency. In one talk show, Tharoor, who has lived in the US for the most part of his life, was asked if he is a 'US agent'.

March 17th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Author, columnist and former UN undersecretary general Shashi Tharoor, whose name is being considered as the Congress candidate for the Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha seat, has met with strong resistance from the youth brigade of the party. Sunday evening, an angry group of activists believed to be from the Youth Congress marched towards the party headquarters in the Kerala here and burnt Tharoor in effigy.

February 28th, 2009 HYDERABAD - United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson Sonia Gandhi Friday laid the foundation stone for the permanent campus of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Andhra Pradesh's Medak district. The campus for the premier technology institute is coming up on 500 acres of land at a cost of Rs.10 billion in Kandi village, about 100 km from here.