The first meeting of the Group of Ministers (GoM) to consider two bills on educational reforms will be held on January 6. The GoM, chaired by Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, will consider the bills — one to provide for establishment of educational tribunals and another to provide for prohibition and punishment for adoption of unfair practices in technical Educational Institutions and universities. The Educational Tribunals Bill and the Prohibition of...
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UN opens Biodiversity Year with plea to save world's life-supporting ecosystems
In a bid to curb the unprecedented loss of the world's species due to human activity – at a rate some experts put at 1,000 times the natural progression – the United Nations is marking 2010 as the International Year of Biodiversity, with a slew of events highlighting the vital role the phenomenon plays in maintaining the life support system on Planet Earth. “Humans are part of nature's rich diversity...
More »Politics of Disability Estimates in India: A Research Note by Vikash Kumar
Introduction The phenomenon of disability is one of the pressing problems in the world. According to the projections of international agencies, about 10 per cent of the population are affected with physical, mental, sensory and other forms of impairments and around 75 per cent of the disabled population are concentrated in the rural and inaccessible areas of the developing societies. This data is based on recent studies carried out in various...
More »Juridical Contours of the Right to Education by Vijay Kumar
The recently enacted Right to Education Act, 2009 has extensively been debated in the media, civil society and academic palaver. Mainstream also intervened in the debate, and to the best of my recollection, published two pieces: first, a rather elaborate one by Muchkund Dubey on September 19, 2009, and thereafter by N.A. Karim on October 3, 2009. While entirely endorsing the views expressed in these two articles and sharing the...
More »A Question of Status by Tapan Raychaudhuri
There is a new excitement in the air concerning higher education. It has been decided by the powers that be, warmly supported by the academic community, that turning selected colleges into universities will open the gates to a Valhalla of knowledge. A commission entrusted with the qualitative improvement of higher education has recommended that on top of some 350 universities and/or equivalent institutions, another 1,500 will be created by upgrading...
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