The Indian monsoon season offers a revitalising allure to several locations throughout the nation. Rainfall enthusiasts will find their ideal spot, be it foggy hills, tumbling waterfalls, or verdant vistas. These are the top ten places to visit during the monsoon season, along with suggestions for photos, neighbouring attractions, food specialities, and travel advice.

Travel by: Plane to Dabolim Airport, train to Madgaon, then car/bus
Highlight: Green countryside and scenic drives

Food: Relish Goan dishes like Goan fish curry, Bebinca (dessert), and Vindaloo.

Nearby Attractions: Dudhsagar Waterfalls
Old Goa Churches
Spice Plantations

5. Mahabaleshwar, Maharashtra

Travel by: Train to Pune, then car/bus
Highlight: Viewpoints, greenery, and waterfalls

Food: Savor local foods like strawberries with cream, corn patties, and Puran Poli.

Nearby Attractions: 

Pratapgad Fort
Venna Lake
Mapro Garden

Strawberry 

Maharashtra government has decided to start 101 primary schools in the border areas of the state.

The decision comes amid reports that there were not enough educational facilities to impart education in Marathi medium in certain parts of the state, especially in border areas.

"State government has taken a decision to start 101 Marathi medium schools with the help of local bodies.

Among other places, new schools would be started in Jat taluka of Sangli district, where there are 88 non-Marathi medium schools, in Gondia district, Savner taluka of Nagpur, and Korchi and Etapalli talukas of Gadchiroli.

The state government has decided to give 50% weightage to Std XII marks for admissions to undergraduate engineering course.

The decision taken in a cabinet meeting, and also confirmed speculations that the state will be part of the new Joint Entrance Exam (JEE) from the 2014-15 academic session.

This means that the new system is applicable to students who will appear for their Std XII board exams in the summer of 2014.

The new examination has been bifurcated in two parts - JEE (Main), the exam for which every candidate seeking admission to the engineering stream will appear, and JEE (Advance), for those seeking admissions to the prestigious IITs.

Maharashtra government has declared that marks scored in Std XII (regardless of board) shall be normalized using the system created by Indian Statistical Institute.

Merit rankings shall be prepared by giving 50-50 per cent weightage to JEE (Main) and Std XII marks. The good news for the students is that only their physics, chemistry and mathematics (PCM) marks will be counted for the 50% weightage from Std XII. Many students were worried that if other subjects, like languages, were considered then their ranking would have dropped.

The government also decided to upgrade its Std XII syllabus from next year itself to align itself with JEE. This would mean yet another curriculum rejig even before the latest one has taken shape.

The state board had changed its Std XII syllabus in the current academic session to bring it on par with that of CBSE. Now the new cabinet decision means again going back to the drawing board. This would make the current books being published, totally obsolete.