RAJINDER SACHAR is one of India’s renowned civil rights activists. A former Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court, Sachar has done pioneering work in enabling a legal framework to assist hundreds who stand accused by the police across India for waging war against the State, many of them with little or dubious evidence. Though 87 years old, Sachar continues to work tirelessly with one of India’s key rights groups,...
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Low nutrition districts to be mapped for surveillance by Aarti Dhar
The Union Women and Child Development Ministry will map the high-risk and vulnerable districts to strengthen nutrition surveillance. It will also set up a working group for surveillance in health and nutrition at the Central level under the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) and the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS). This follows a paper prepared by the Women and Child Development and Health and Family Welfare Ministries for addressing nutritional challenges...
More »Ad blitz to highlight UPA II education schemes by Anubhuti Vishnoi
If the ‘Bharat Nirman’ ad campaign marked UPA I, education campaigns will underscore UPA II. The government is set to position both the Right to Education Act that came into effect on April 1 and its ambitious Saakshar Bharat programme as key schemes for the “aam aadmi”. The Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry will be rolling out an extensive ad campaign across TV channels, radio stations and newspapers next month,...
More »Pathway to food security for all by MS Swaminathan
The proposed Food Security Bill should adopt a three-pronged strategy that constitutes a Universal Public Distribution System for all, low-cost foodgrains to the needy, and convergence in the delivery of nutrition safety net programmes. In his latest budget speech, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee announced: “We are now ready with the draft Food Security Bill which will be placed in the public domain very soon.” Although no official draft has been...
More »Right to education faces court test by Samanwaya Rautray
Ten days before it comes into force, the Right to Education Act has been challenged in the Supreme Court as an unconstitutional infringement on the rights of private and minority schools. One of the petitioners’ main complaints is that the act will force these schools to teach up to a fourth of their students free of cost if they come from the neighbourhood. Another is that the schools cannot even pick and...
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