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Therefore, this new academic collaboration of the National Library of India and Dravidian University, Kuppam, will be a strong impetus to education and research in Library and Information Science in India, focusing on internship, research exchange, and capacity-building within the LIS sector.

The agreement inked today gives an opportunity to the students and scholars of Dravidian University to access arguably the richest repository of books, manuscripts, rare archives, and digital records in Asia. According to officials, the move has been put together with an aim to combine classroom learning with hands-on archival and documentation experience at the national level.

This MoU ensures that both institutions would collaborate in designing and developing research projects, training modules, techniques for preservation and digitization, and professional development programs for university staff within the new framework. Such a partnership would likely lead to upgrading academic standards, increasing employability among its graduates from the LIS programmes, while deepening engagement with knowledge management and archival science.

The agreement was thus signed on behalf of the DG, National Library of India, by Dr. Siva Prasad Senapathi, Principal Library & Information Officer, and by the Registrar of Dravidian University on behalf of the Vice Chancellor. Krishanu Chattopadhyay, Assistant Library & Information Officer, was also present there during the ceremony.

Officials said the partnership would mean a leap towards modernisation in the LIS education system in India, as the academic preparation would be oriented toward professional-real-life needs.

The learning crisis in the United States worsened this week, as new national test results showed a precipitous decline in basic math and reading skills among high-school seniors-the weakest performance recorded in nearly two decades. The results stirred widespread debate, including from Ohio governor candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, who described the numbers as "the hard truth" and insisted it's up to the states to fix it.

The latest 2024 National Assessment of Educational Progress gives a bleak picture of:

Only 22 percent of 12th graders show proficiency in math, the lowest score since the test was first administered in 2005.

45% of students score below the basic level, while 33% reach the basic mark.

Math scores have been sliding for years: 23 percent proficiency in 2005, briefly rising to 26 percent in both 2009 and 2013, falling back to 24 percent in 2019 before plunging this year.

Reading performance also fell to historic lows:

• 35% of seniors are proficient.
• 33% are at the basic level.
• 32% fall below basic.

Ramaswamy said the decline starts far sooner and cited statistics to back up that three out of four American eighth graders are not proficient in math, adding "the system does not recover in later grades."

India vs US: Learning gap widens

The worrisome US results have revived comparisons with India — which is continuing to record far higher success rates in core subjects right across Class 10 and 12 board examinations. Most major Indian school boards consistently report 70% or higher pass rates in mathematics and language subjects — though standards vary significantly across states.

Various structural differences stand out:

1. More Classroom Hours, Stronger Fundamentals: Students in India tend to spend more hours at school every week studying math, science, and language. The exam-centric system places a heavy emphasis on direct testing of core skills-a sharp contrast with the US, where broader curricula, variable state standards, and a lighter testing load often dilute subject-specific rigor.
2. According to ASER 2024,

• 98%+ of children between 6–14 years are enrolled in schools within India.
• 66-67% attend government schools.
• 30-31% are in private schools.

Experts say that broad access combined with structured instruction assures that Indian students maintain constant exposure to math and language fundamentals, something their American counterparts may not experience as consistently. 3. Both countries have some form of inequality, but the outcomes are different. While the quality of schooling may be very unequal, Indian students tend to get much stronger foundational teaching simply because their curriculum is more centralized and test-oriented. 

In the US, decentralization leads to uneven standards, putting less emphasis on basic skills mastery. Crisis with long-lasting impact Education experts say the collapse in senior-year proficiency comes with significant risks for the American workforce: fewer students will be prepared for the math and literacy demands of higher education, potentially weakening an already-strained pipeline into STEM careers. The Labor Department said the federal system has “failed students for many years,” a rare public admission of systemic breakdown.

For years, the warnings were treated as an occupational footnote, an ageing workforce here, a waning interest in number-crunching there. But the crisis engulfing America's accounting pipeline has matured into a structural fault line, as millions of baby boomer accountants prepare for retirement while firms struggle to recruit replacements. What was once dismissed as a tedious professional backwater is now re-emerging as a six-figure opportunity hiding in plain sight. According to Fortune, the exodus is unmistakable: Roughly 340,000 accountants have quit the industry in the past five years as reported by Fortune, drained by burnout, leadership churn at the IRS, and mounting policy fights. Worse, three-quarters of those still practising are projected to retire within the next decade, threatening to hollow out the core of a profession indispensable to a tax system growing more labyrinthine by the year. Against this bleak backdrop, a surprising cohort is stepping up, Gen Z.

Gen Z moves toward “America’s most boring job”

Accounting has long been suffering from a reputation problem. Research identifies it as the second-most stereotyped "boring" job in the United States. Yet the very generation accused of craving glamour is now discovering a critical truth: The work may be unglamorous, but the compensation and career stability are formidable. More importantly, the generation's response is not speculative. It is hands-on, labour-intensive, and deeply civic in spirit.

Half-century-old IRS program becomes a launchpad

The heart of this revival is the IRS's Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program, first established over 50 years ago at California State University, Northridge.

According to Fortune, the program has exploded in relevance. In 2024 alone:

More than 280 CSUN students helped taxpayers

More than 9,000 low-income Americans received free assistance

Nearly $11 million in refunds were claimed.

An additional $3.6 million in tax credits were secured

More than $2 million in preparation fees were saved

Students work grueling schedules, 10 am to 10 pm in the weeks before tax day, decoding the system for families who may not realize what they are owed.

And yet, the scale of unmet needs is staggering. Americans left $8.2 billion in Earned Income Tax Credits unclaimed in the 2021 tax year, Fortune notes. With 66% of Americans now living paycheck to paycheck, every recovered dollar carries the weight of necessity. A mission that resonates beyond business schools

Perhaps the most telling shift, however, is who participates. The pipeline is no longer restricted to accounting majors; students studying computer science, psychology, public health, and other disciplines are joining the program because of the tangible social impact and the growing clarity that financial literacy is no longer optional-it is survival.

Gen Z's embrace of the field reflects something deeper than workforce replenishment: It signals a generational re-evaluation of "boring" work-the essential, unglamorous labour that keeps financial systems functioning and households afloat.

A quiet, necessary rebuilding of America’s tax infrastructure

The accounting shortage is not just an HR problem for companies. It's a stress fracture in the architecture of American governance. The tax code is getting more complex; political fights over deductions, credits, and audits are getting more heated; and the IRS has suffered waves of leadership churn. But the professional corps charged with interpreting that complexity is shrinking. Which is not to say that the emergent role of Gen Z is a panacea. But it's the first visible signal that the profession's long-ignored crisis may find relief not through corporate recruitment drives but via a civic-minded generation reimagining its relationship with work. The work that holds everything together This revival of interest in accounting is less a comeback story than a coming-to-terms with economic reality. America's tax machinery requires a skilled and sizable workforce, and as boomers retire en masse, the mantle is falling to the youngest workers. Via programmes like VITA, Gen Z are gaining experience and restoring capacity but also rewriting perceptions of a field long dismissed as dull. In a country where everything, from health care to federal benefits, is ruled by complexity, their timely intervention is indispensible.

Uttar Pradesh govt finally started a crackdown on Nov 22. Four senior minority welfare officials—Joint Director SN Pandey, Ghaziabad DMO Sahitya Nikash Singh, Bareilly's Lalman, and Amethi's Prabhat Kumar—were suspended after being found complicit in facilitating Huda's illegal salary, unauthorized leave approvals, and retirement benefits on Saturday.

The move marks the beginning of what the officials term "one of the most extraordinary cases of administrative collusion, foreign-funded religious operations, and long-term radicalisation attempts" that have been unearthed in eastern Uttar Pradesh.

"It's one of the most shocking cases of systemic breakdown," said a senior official. "This wasn't an accidental oversight. This was an active collaboration."

An FIR was lodged under section 318(4) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita for cheating and under relevant provisions of the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999, against Shamsul Huda Khan.

A Special Investigation Team is investigating his foreign travel history, NGO registration documents, bank and donation trails, and departmental approval files, besides communication between Huda and local officials. Sant Kabir Nagar's police officials have also written to ED for a probe.

Huda faces two more FIRs -- one in Azamgarh for cheating and forgery, another in Sant Kabir Nagar for concealing British citizenship and waging war against India.

The story begins in 1984, when Huda was appointed assistant teacher at a madrassa in Azamgarh. He continued teaching until 2007 - the year he quietly left for the UK. By 2013, he had acquired British citizenship.

But between 2007 and 2017, his salary continued to be deposited uninterruptedly in his account while he lived in the West. Medical leaves were sanctioned, GPF papers processed, service records updated, and finally in 2017 VRS was approved—consolidating his retirement benefits despite his absolute absence from duty.

According to investigators, the chain of approvals involves "deliberate negligence," "active manipulation of files," and "a decade-long conspiracy enabled by officials managing madrassa education in eastern UP." The financial loss to the state—around ₹16 lakh in salary alone—is only part of the story. What Huda was allegedly doing abroad is now a much bigger question.

Investigators say that he tried to "indirectly build ideological influence" in parts of eastern Uttar Pradesh by funding and managing religious institutions upon returning in 2017.

The ATS cited electronic religious lectures aimed at Indian audiences; unregulated foreign inflows into local madrassas and NGOs; efforts to disguise the source of donations; and use of religious platforms to promote "sect-based ideological expansion". This triggered further scrutiny — not just of Huda, but of the entire administrative chain that enabled him.

Huda shifted to India in 2017, set up Madrassa Kulliyatul Banatir Rajviya (Niswa) in Khalilabad, and founded two NGOs: Kulliyatul Banatir Rajviya Educational & Welfare Society and Raza Foundation.

The institutions functioned like an expanding ecosystem-foreign donations came in through several bank accounts, a girls' hostel functioned out of a rented house, students came in from Sant Kabir Nagar, Basti, Azamgarh, and other states-religious coursework packaged as welfare education.

But what bothered investigators was how quickly those buildings proliferated, and that donations often came from abroad. In early 2024, the government shut down his girls' madrassa over financial misdealing. Huda promptly opened another bearing the same name on an adjacent compound.

A second madrassa was sealed on November 3. Officials suspect that the campuses were "operational nodes" for both foreign fund inflow and influence-building activities. The ATS tracked the inflows going back several years, finding multiple small foreign contributions masked through NGO accounts and money rerouted from overseas donors to various religious institutions across eastern UP, a portion allegedly diverted as personal commission or unaccounted transactions. Institutions that received this money included Darul Uloom Ahle Sunnat Ashrafia Misbahul Uloom, Huda's old institution in Mubarakpur — now under scrutiny for its role in legitimising financial paperwork despite his long absence. Officials say the "money trail is only partially decoded," and the Enforcement Directorate may step in soon.

The body of a 22-year-old Indian medical student who disappeared nearly three weeks ago in Russia has been recovered from a dam in the city of Ufa, officials and family members confirmed on Thursday.

The student, Ajit Singh Chaudhary, hailed from Alwar in the northern Indian state of Rajasthan and had been pursuing his MBBS at Bashkir State Medical University since 2023. He was last seen on October 19, when he left his hostel around 11 a.m. to buy milk, telling friends he would return within 30 minutes. He never came back.

Russian authorities launched a search operation soon after his disappearance. Within days, Ajit’s belongings — including his clothes, phone and shoes — were discovered near the White River, a development that heightened concerns among family members and fellow students. After an intensive 19-day search, his body was found in a dam connected to the same river.

The Indian Embassy in Moscow informed Ajit’s family and local representatives in Alwar about the recovery. Fellow students in Ufa helped identify the body. Officials said a post-mortem will be conducted by a medical board before the remains are repatriated to India, a process expected to take two to three days and coordinated between Indian and Russian authorities.

The news has devastated Ajit’s family, who had sold nearly three bighas of land to send him abroad for medical education. “We sent him with so many dreams. Now we are only waiting for his body to return,” a relative said.

Back in Alwar, the case has triggered anger and protests. Students and community members gathered at the Alwar Jat hostel, accusing authorities of responding inadequately to the disappearance. They demanded an expedited return of Ajit’s body and a transparent investigation into the circumstances of his death.

Local political leaders have also weighed in. Former Union Minister and Congress leader Jitendra Singh Alwar expressed grief and called the death “suspicious.” In a post on X (formerly Twitter), he urged India’s External Affairs Minister, S. Jaishankar, to press for a full inquiry and ensure the family is not subjected to further delays.

Ajit’s parents, Roop Singh and Santra Devi, remain in deep shock as they await the repatriation of their son’s remains. The family has called for a comprehensive probe into how a young student, thousands of kilometres from home, ended up dead under unexplained circumstances in a foreign country.

As the Cambridge Dictionary explained, Parasocial is the Word of the Year 2025. The year saw an interest in one-sided parasocial relationships that humans develop with celebrities, influencers, and AI chatbots.

For 2025, Cambridge Dictionary has chosen "parasocial" as the Word of the Year. The one-way emotional connections of the audience to public personalities such as celebrities, influencers, and even AI chatbots defined much of the global conversation.

Unrequited Love Relationships That Define the Year

The rise of long, confessional podcasts deepened these bonds. Listeners described the hosts as "friends", though the connection flowed only one way.

Some artists, like Lily Allen, put parasocial interest into their albums, while streamers like IShowSpeed called out obsessive fan behavior directly.

It soon went beyond human interactions. Many started treating AI chatbots as a confidant.

Tools like ChatGPT were approached for comfort, emotional reassurance, and companionship-a pattern that psychologists say carries risks, particularly for younger users.

A Concept Tracing Back to 1956

The term "parasocial" is not new; it was coined by sociologists Donald Horton and Richard Wohl in 1956 to identify the way television viewers developed intimate relationships with on-screen personalities.

As actors came right into people's homes by way of television, audiences began thinking of them almost like family or close relatives.

Why Cambridge chose 'parasocial'

Colin McIntosh, at Cambridge Dictionary, said that the word "captures the 2025 zeitgeist." The year's spikes in searches reflected growing curiosity.

The technological and cultural changes brought what had been an academic term into everyday speech.

Some of those connections are harmless, she said. Others become intense and unhealthy. The Language That Grew Around It In 2025, Cambridge Dictionary added more than 6,000 new words-many linked to online culture and AI. Words like "slop", "skibidi", "delulu", and "tradwife" have been included in the dictionary, as well as such newer entries as "glazing", "bias", "vibey", "breathwork", and "doom spending". According to editors, new words show how fast the language is changing and how deeply digital life is shaping the way people think and speak nowadays.