The Union Cabinet has approved the creation of a National Testing Agency (NTA) to conduct entrance examinations for higher educational institutions .The agency is to be registered under the Indian Societies Registration Act, 1860 and as an autonomous and self sustained premier testing organizations.

Creation of NTA will relieve the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) of the burden of conducting entrance tests.The entrance examinations will be conducted in online mode at least twice a year, thereby giving adequate opportunity to lakhs of candidates to bring out their best.

The Centre will give an initial grant of 25crore to the NTA to start its operations in the first year. Thereafter, it will be self-sustaining .The NTA will be chaired by an eminent educationist appointed by the Ministry of Human Resource Development .There will be a Board of Governors comprising members from user institutions.

The Union cabinet has approved the appointment of a second national judicial pay commission for the subordinate judiciary.The commission will decide on a salary hike for almost 21,000 judges of the subordinate judiciary level.The Commission,is to be headed by retired justice of the Supreme Court J.P.Venkatrama Reddi,will make its recommendations to the state governments preferably within a period of eighteen months.

The Commission aims to evolve the principles which would govern pay structure and other emoluments of Judicial Officers belonging to the Subordinate Judiciary of the country. It will examine the work methods and work environment as also the variety of allowance and benefits in kind that are available to Judicial Officers in addition to pay and to suggest rationalisation and simplification thereof.

It will aim at arriving at a uniform pay scale for the service of judicial officers of the subordinate judiciary throughout the country. The current entry-level salary for a junior civil judge is Rs45,000 while a senior judge gets nearly Rs80,000.

The Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh has called upon young police officers to orient themselves for a multi-dimensional role in the era of technological growth. Addressing the 69th batch of Indian Police Services (IPS) Officers here today, he urged the officers to solve people’s problems with sympathetic and empathetic behaviour towards them.

Rajnath Singh said that technology should be utilised in an optimal manner for the development of police functioning and to address people’s problem quickly and efficiently. Mentioning anecdotes from his experiences as former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Union Home Minister said that society’s perception towards IPS Officers should be positive and Officers should likewise develop a sense of sensitivity, protection and security towards public, so that they can discuss their problems and have their solutions with ease.

He concluded by saying that Governance with transparency and responsibility is the mantra of success.