News Digest: In UP, An Economics Professor Who Thinks IMF is 'Int'l Money Found'

Here is what is making news on a Friday morning

In UP, an economics professor who thinks IMF is `Int'l Money Found'

Ruby Roy is in jail for not knowing what political science means and still topping the Bihar Board exams.But at least she has the fig leaf of being a student. These teachers in Uttar Pradesh have no excuse.

An associate professor of English who spells `evaluation' as `evalluation' and an economics lecturer who has no idea what `audit' means and writes that IMF stands for `International Money Fo und' even after being told the correct answer are in a mess of their own. But it's also a reflection of the larger problem afflicting the education system in the state, with viral videos showing UP school teachers fumbling when asked to name the Prime Minister or UP's chief minister.

(Reported by Times of India)

IIT-Kharagpur alumnus gifts record $11m to UCLA



Indian-American physicist Mani Bhaumik has donated $11 million to University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) to set up a centre for advancing knowledge of the basic laws of nature, the largest donation in the varsity's history . Bhaumik, who earned a doctorate from IITKharagpur in 1958, didn't own a pair of shoes until he was 16. He arrived at UCLA on a Sloan Fellowship with $3 in his pocket.

(Reported by Times of India)

Juvenile paan sellers held for strange death of teen in fight

A 13-year-old boy died after two teenaged paan-sellers allegedly slapped him repeatedly during a scuffle near his home in east Delhi’s New Kondli area on Wednesday evening, police said.

Rajat Menon, a class 9 student of Salwan Public School in central Delhi, fell unconscious and his assailants apparently took him to two separate hospitals before doctors at Lal Bahadur Shastri hospital declared him dead on arrival.

“It is difficult to say what caused his death. There are no external injuries on the body that would suggest that he was beaten to death,” said a Delhi Police officer, who is investigating the case.

(Reported by Hindustan Times)

Govt for 26-week pvt sector maternity leave

Pregnant women working in the government and private sectors can soon look forward to increased maternity leave, helping them balance professional commitments with personal lives and potentially stemming the exodus of expecting mothers from the workplace.

After year-long deliberations, the Centre has begun the process of fixing maternity leave to 26 weeks — six-and-a half months — across sectors.

(Reported by Hindustan Times)

Survey on ‘forced Hindu migration’ on VHP agenda

The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) says it is carrying out a survey in West Bengal of Hindus “forced out” of their homes and deprived of their property, a move that has potential to stoke communal tensions.The survey was a precursor to a nationwide exercise, international working president of the VHP Praveen Togadia told HT in an exclusive interview on Wednesday night, a few days after similar claims of Hindu families migrating out of Kairana town in Uttar Pradesh made headlines but were found to be untrue.

(Reported by Hindustan Times)

For J Dey’s murder, CBI to charge Chhota Rajan

THE CBI is likely to file a supplementary chargesheet in July accusing arrested gangster Chhota Rajan of having ordered the killing of journalist Jyotirmoy Dey in Mumbai five years ago, sources in the agency told The Indian Express.

Officers linked to the probe said the agency has unearthed new evidence on Rajan’s alleged role in the killing and will soon question the gangster — for the second time — in connection with the case. Rajan was arrested from Bali last November and is lodged in Tihar jail.

(Reported by The Indian Express)

Nobel winners back GM crops



A round 109 Nobel laureates have signed a letter urging Greenpeace to end its opposition to GM organisms and calling upon states to reject the NGO's campaign that opposed farm innovations, reports Vishwa Mohan.

(Reported by Times of India)

Subramanian Swamy angers BJP top brass, tweets himself into a corner

BARELY two months after he entered the Rajya Sabha, Subramanian Swamy has proved his critics right — his couldn’t-care-less swipes at Finance Minister Arun Jaitley are proving more costly than what he had bargained for.

Sources said that Swamy’s caustic, even derogatory, tweets have eroded the support of the top bosses in the ruling dispensation and questions regarding his comments are even being raised within the RSS.

(Reported by The Indian Express)

Mehbooba accused of ‘turning right’ with controversial remark

SRINAGAR: Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti described Saturday’s fatal militant attack on a security convoy in Pampore as un-Islamic, a remark that political rivals said reflected her growing tilt towards the Hindu right-wing.

(Reported by Hindustan Times)

TN top tourist draw for 2nd straight year

Tamil Nadu has topped the popularity charts for both domestic and foreign tourists for the second year in a row, beating Maharashtra and other favoured destinations like Goa and Kerala.

TN received 4.68 million foreign tourists in 2015, a tad higher than 4.66 million in 2014. Domestically , it continued its winning streak since 2013 with 333.5 million Indians visiting in 2015, according to tourism ministry data. Tamil Nadu's rise as a top-ranker for Indian and foreign travellers is surprising and could possibly be attributed to Indians working and studying abroad and non-resident Indians coming to visit family and relatives,“ an industry source said.

(Reported by Times of India)