New Delhi: HRD Ministry may have pushed out IIT-D Director
On Sunday, Raghunath Shevgaonkar, Director of the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, resigned, setting off a controversy over his reasons for doing so. The Human Resources Development Ministry said it did not wield the power to effect his resignation. At the same time, Shevgaonkar is thought to have quit under pressure from the Union government for refusing to pay back-wages and benefits with interest to its former faculty member and Bharatiya Janata Party leader Subramanian Swamy. The official reason given by Shevgaonkar is that he wants to return to Mumbai to stay with his family.

West Bengal: Star treatment for Mitra in jail
Over the weekend, jailed Trinamool Congress leader Madan Mitra tried for long to delay his return to prison from SSKM hospital, agreeing to return only on Sunday morning after being discharged on Saturday. In fact, Mitra went to the extent of consulting his astrologers about when to return. Once inside the jail, Mitra insisted on eating only home-cooked food and that he be housed separately from the four undertrials he was earlier lodged with.

Jammu and Kashmir: High-level talks between BJP, PDP may follow
Talks between the Bharatiya Janata Party and the People’s Democratic Party in the state seem to have made some progress as sources said they anticipated talks between the parties’ leaders to follow soon. At the same time, a PDP spokesperson said that finding common ground with the BJP was a challenge. Neither party managed to win an absolute majority in the assembly polls, and have since been at the centre of a political deadlock.

Uttar Pradesh: Villagers deny being converted to Hinduism
Villagers in Shahjahanpur district in the state are denying claims made by the Bajrang Dal and Vishwa Hindu Parishad, that they had been converted to Hinduism from Christianity. As a result, members of the VHP are preventing the villagers from Bible-reading sessions in their villages. Some of the villagers claim that they have been receiving death-threats. Local leaders have asked the villages to read the Bible at their homes, instead, until the dust settled.

Maharashtra: CAT 2014 results announced
Among the 1.7 lakh students who wrote the Common Admission Test in 2014, 16 have emerged with hundred-percentile scores. Five of these top scorers are from the Indian Institute of Technology while one – the only girl among the 16 – is from the Birla Institute of Technology and Sciences, Pilani. This year’s release of results has been marred by numerous technical issues, with the results for a few students yet to be announced.