-The Hindu India has the highest number of students in colleges after the U.S., says Kapil Sibal The percentage of students from the Other Backward Communities who have enrolled in higher education has gone past 27 per cent, but the number of students from the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes continues to be unacceptably low, an official survey has revealed. Indicating an impressive increase in the Gross Enrolment Ratio from 15 per...

-Economic and Political weekly Drawing on the research on basic education in West Bengal, this essay argues the case for a much criticised public education system, which needs to be reconsidered as regards its potential as a provider of quality education, even while addressing its many failings. The essay follows an approach, both critical and constructive, that underlines the collective onus of the public in realising the value of the public...

-The Hindu More than a political consensus, it is hard data on the absence of marginalised sections from the higher bureaucracy that will give legitimacy to the measure The decision to amend the Constitution to ensure reservation in promotions for the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes has been the subject of much scrutiny without paying sufficient critical attention to the discourse of the Supreme Court on the issue. While the Court...

-Frontline A study finds that institutional support alone cannot help reduce maternal mortality in India.  THE high rate of maternal mortality in India has been a cause for national concern, especially on account of the focus on reaching the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals by 2015. Although there is a growing realisation that it will be difficult to meet the MDG targets by that deadline, there is a renewed interest in the...

-The Indian Express Gujarat is growing, but its children remain undernourished Even as Gujarat surpasses many Indian states with impressive investments in infrastructure, agriculture, and general economic growth, little is known about how this growth is affecting the state’s social indicators. The recent buzz about the causes of undernutrition in Gujarat raise a number of issues about social and cultural preferences. However, this can be interpreted only in the broader context of...