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Chief Minister M. K. Stalin and other top political leaders paid their last respects on Saturday to renowned Tamil scholar Perungavikko VM Sethuraman, who died late on Friday night at the age of 89. A passionate scholar of Tamil language and literature, the death of Sethuraman signifies the conclusion of a significant period in Tamil scholarship.

Within minutes of the death being reported, Health Minister Ma Subramanian and Prime Minister CM Stalin visited the residence of Sethuraman with floral tributes and comforted grieving family members. In a condolence message, Stalin was brief with deep regret and remembered the scholar's model services, especially his articles in the DMK organ Murasoli. The Chief Minister also recalled the respect of the late CM M. Karunanidhi towards Sethuraman, referring to him as a scholar who devoted his entire life to studying the Tamil language.

In a gesture of state respect, Stalin directed police honors to be paid during Sethuraman's funeral.

VCK leader Thol Thirumavalavan also made a personal tribute, as a line of other political figures reacted to the shock in an official statement. These were TNCC general secretary K. Selvaperunthagai, MDMK general secretary Vaiko, PMK president Dr. Anbumani Ramadoss, CPI state secretary R. Mutharasan, TMC(M) president G. K. Vasan, and AMMK general secretary TTV Dhinakaran.

Perungavikko VM Sethuraman was universally regarded as a giant of Tamil literary heritage. His influence did not end in the academic circle but continued to influence political and civil society language, identity, and culture awareness discourse.

His passing has left a void within the Tamil alphabetic clan, and political stalwarts belonging to all hues of politics coming together in shock and awe at the intellectual who spearheaded the Tamil struggle until death.

The University of Delhi (DU) Non-Collegiate Women's Education Board (NCWEB) on Tuesday, July 1, released the opening of undergraduate (UG) admissions for the year 2025 with 15,200 seats available in 26 centres in Delhi.

Started to provide opportunity to women who are not in a position to pursue regular college because of personal, social, or financial reasons, NCWEB gives an affordable and flexible option through weekend classes and merit-based selection.

Two undergraduate programmes, BA (Programme) and BCom, are offered by the board and are available only to women who live in Delhi.

The admissions are not on CUET scores but on Class 12 marks, and the window for registration will be open for three weeks.

"Non-Collegiate Women's Education Board is best reflecting the Beti Bachao Beti Padhao initiative of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi," Professor Geeta Bhatt, Director NCWEB, said to PTI.

"This facility of DU is a ray of hope for those girls who cannot go to normal college because of financial or social issues. It provides them with an opportunity to further their studies and make a positive contribution to society," she added.

Financial assistance and book loan facility are provided for meritorious students. "It is a novel model which enables us to utilize the existing infrastructure of DU in imparting education to thousands of women at a very low cost," stated Professor Bhatt.

Following a report by Times Now, NCWEB, which began with three students in 1944, now boasts more than 31,000 enrolled women students. The program transcends studies; it seeks to empower women with the dignity of choice, the strength of independence, and the ability to create a brighter future

A land scandal that was unleashed at the ancient Maharani College of Jaipur has erupted following the uncovering of three Islamic shrines hidden inside the college campus. The finding of the religious shrines has raised an eyebrow over a suspected attempt at encroaching on state land using religious rights.

Dharohar Bachao Sanrakshan Samiti, a committee that works for conserving local heritage, protested strongly. Its president, Bharat Sharma, labelled the buildings as being a "planned conspiracy" to illegitimately occupy college land through clauses of the Waqf Act. In a video clip shot inside the college premises, Sharma instructs the administration to demolish the shrines, threatening that in case of failure to do so, public protests will ensue.

The shrines, reportedly located alongside the campus pump house and water tank, are managed by the institution. There is no known history, however, about when and how they were built and who ordered that they be built. Their covert existence had raised questions of whether their existence was ever forgotten or even not even known.

Attempts to contact the principal of the college have been futile till now. College officials, including the principal, refused to speak when India Today TV attempted to contact them. The silence of the administration has triggered more questions and curiosity among the common folk.

Maharani College, one of the constituent colleges of the University of Rajasthan, and the academic environment in which mind traditions are valued, are at the heart of a sensitive controversy that touches issues of contested ownership rights, religious freedom, and institutional accountability.

After controversy over the matter, there is a possibility of its being followed by broader controversy related to enforcement of land law, schools' role in protection of public property, and misuse of religious protection. The government has made no statement or probe into the source of the buildings.

Having their nerves already at a breaking point, the campus community and residents around are waiting for the answers of the education authorities and the government.

The Himachal Pradesh state has emerged as a national leader in education, emerging from 21st rank in 2021 to 5th rank in the National Achievement Survey (NAS) 2025. Leading this quick turnaround is Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu's strong-arm style of governance, Vyavastha Parivartan, which has transitioned from words to actual outcomes.

Preparation for the revolution was made with the closure of 1,160 under-performing schools—a politically unpopular but unavoidable measure to eliminate wastage and channel resources to performing schools. Far from previous governments which succumbed to political opportunism, Sukhu's government chose performance over populism.

Six cornerstone reforms were the twin pillars of Himachal's transformation:

• School Mergers improved teaching effectiveness and class size.
• A Single Education Directorate ensured co-ordinated administration from pre-primary to Class 12.
• English medium of instruction from Grade 1 incorporated foundation skills.
• School uniform selection gave students identity.
• Teacher and student international exposure gained best practices.
• Cluster management of schools introduced enhanced cooperation and oversight.

NAS 2025 data cemented the reforms:

• Government schools outshone private schools.
• Girl children and rural were at over national levels.
• Hamirpur and Sirmaur districts led in foundation learning.
• Lahaul & Spiti worked hard but topped senior grades.

There are, however, issues. Teachers reported attending CPD in only 26% of instances, and facilities for CWSN are lacking. Issues of bullying and lack of interest in vocational courses must be addressed at the earliest.

As the state itself strives for a top 3 NAS ranking by 2027, Sukhu's model is a national template. Himachal has proven that change is not only possible but accessible. Its story of education is not one just of numbers—but of revitalizing public faith in government schooling.

Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Monday accused the BJP's model of development of being to take away the right to education from the poor, particularly SC, ST and OBC children.

Opposition leader in the Lok Sabha posted on Facebook screenshots of certain media reports.

One media outlet alleged that the number of government schools fell 8 per cent but private schools rose by 14.9 per cent between 2014-15 and 2023-24, whereas another alleged that SC students' enrolment in 2023-24 as against earlier fiscal year dropped by 16.2 lakh students and ST students' and OBC students' enrolment dropped by 5.1 lakh and 38.5 lakh respectively during the same period.

In a Hindi post on X, Gandhi claimed that the "BJP's development model is a model to snatch the right to education from the poor, especially SC, ST and OBC children".

"Over 5,000 government schools are closing in Uttar Pradesh. Since 2014, 84,441 government schools have shut down in the country, with the majority shutting down in three BJP-governed states - Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Assam," he added.

"This is not only closing schools, but also an attack on the right to education enshrined in the Constitution and the UPA government's historic law, which led all children from all villages into school and resulted in a historic rise in enrolment," Gandhi added.

Babasaheb Ambedkar had declared that education is the milk of a lioness and the person who drinks it will roar, but today education itself is being stolen away, he charged.

"Students and teachers on the street protesting against the school closure decision, but rather than hearing their voice, the government is occupied in intimidating them and further impairing the education system. When the requirement is to make it stronger and offer equal, accessible and quality education to all children," Gandhi said.

Two students will be awarded maximum number of gold medals at the forthcoming annual convocation of Visvesvaraya Technological University (VTU) on July 4.

Namrata C Prabhu of Bengaluru's Oxford College of Engineering will take home 13, the largest amount of gold medals. "Growing up, I used to watch my dad, a civil engineer, work and was always amazed by it. Hence, I was leaning towards civil engineering rather than computer science, though that has been more sought after," she said.

Another topper student who has risen to the challenge is Navyashree Ganpishetty, a student of electronics and communications engineering at RV Institute of Technology, Bengaluru. She has won 11 gold medals. "I was fascinated by electronic gadgets since childhood. My father has completed his B.Tech in communication and electronics engineering. We had sufficient exposure in our college. We would do practical in lab and would have the needed questions from VTU," she added. She is going to pursue higher studies in VLSI (very large scale integration).

Karthik L of mechanical engineering at Bangalore Institute of Technology, Bengaluru, and Kavana A, electrical and electronics engineering student at GSSS Institute of Technology for Women, Mysuru, both bagged seven gold medals.

The 25th annual convocation of the Visvesvaraya Technological University (VTU) will take place on July 4 at its Jnana-Sangama campus in Belagavi. Ajay Kumar Sood, principal scientific advisor to govt of India, will be the chief guest and the convocation address.

VTU is conferring degree certificates on 60,052 students. BE degree on 58,861 students (20,707 autonomous college students included), B.Tech on 117 students, B.Plan on 10 students, B.Arch on 1,040 (234 autonomous college students included), and B.Sc (Honours) on 24 students. Aside from this, the university is conferring 262 PhDs and 2 integrated dual degrees on research scholars.

VTU will award honorary doctorate degree 'Doctor of Science' this year to V Narayanan, chairman Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and secretary, department of space; Prashant Prakash, founder, Excel India; and CS Sunder Raju, chancellor, Atria University, Bengaluru.

Six gold medals will be awarded to computer science and engineering student of Dayanand Sagar Academy of Technology and Management, Mohini V.

Top five institutions with the most VTU ranks are Mangalore Institute of Technology and Engineering (MITE), Moodabidri with 16 ranks, and Bangalore Institute of Technology (BIT), Bengaluru with 13 ranks.