Remove media access restriction for Parliament coverage: Editors Guild to Birla, Dhankhar
New Delhi (PTI): The Editors Guild of India on Monday urged Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar to remove access restrictions on the media for covering proceedings of Parliament.
The Guild, in a letter to Birla, said the practice of restricting the number of media persons, including those holding permanent accreditation, came into force when Covid19 protocols were in place.
"The country has fought the scourge and moved on and we hope limiting access is also done away with," it said in a letter to Birla.
The Guild also expressed concern over the non-reconstitution of the Press Advisory Committee that was first founded in 1929 under the guidance of the president of the Central Legislative Assembly, Vithalbhai Patel.
The Guild urged Dhankhar to restore complete access to all media accredited media persons to the House without the need for them to secure additional access passes, which only adds to the bureaucratic work at a time when the effort is to reduce the load.
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NEET student hangs self in Rajasthan's Sikar
Jaipur (PTI): A student preparing for the NEET examination allegedly committed suicide by hanging himself in a rented room in Rajasthan's Sikar on Friday, police said.
According to the police, the student allegedly hanged himself from a ceiling fan using his sister's scarf while one sister was attending coaching classes and the other was in the bathroom.
He had appeared in the NEET UG exam 2026, which was cancelled due to paper leak, they said.
Udyog Nagar SHO Rajesh Kumar said that the deceased, identified as Pradeep Meghwal, was a resident of Kanika ki Dhani village in Jhunjhunu's Gudha Gaudji area.
He had been living in a rented room in Sikar's Jaldhari Nagar area with his two sisters while preparing for NEET over the last three years.
His elder sister later found him hanging and informed the landlord and police after bringing him down, officials said.
The SHO said the body was kept at SK Hospital mortuary, and a postmortem had not been conducted.
The student's father, Rajesh Kumar Meghwal, told police that Pradeep's NEET examination had gone well and the family was expecting him to score around 650 marks.
Former Rajasthan deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot expressed grief over the incident and linked it to anxiety among students after reports of irregularities and paper leaks in NEET 2026.
Pilot said repeated paper leak incidents and cancellation of examinations were affecting students' mental health and demanded a time-bound investigation and strict action against those responsible.
