Notification of rules is a step forward, but a lot more needs to be done A bunch of children selling toys at a traffic signal, small boys cleaning tables at restaurants or washing glasses at tea shops or little girls engaged as baby sitters – the effective implementation of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009, will possibly make such instances a thing of the past. However, for...

Health is a state of mental, social and physical well-being and not merely an absence of disease or infirmity. To achieve this noble objective, India requires health care professionals who are trained in institutions with standardised infrastructure, and the availability of accessible and equitable health care for both the rural and urban populace. Recently, the health sector has been in the news — from the creation of a rural based...

The government plans an umbrella law to tighten financial scrutiny and regulation of religious trusts and non-profit organisations as it looks to allay global concerns about money laundering and terrorist financing activities by such entities. It is also likely to make public names of organisations that claim tax exemption to ensure greater transparency. Some of India's religious trusts are among the richest in the world. Last year, Tirumala temple, managed...

A proposed government move to regulate content on blogs has ignited a firestorm of protest from the blogging community which is accusing the government of restricting free speech and acting like the guardians of a police state. At the heart of the issue is the Indian IT Act which was amended in 2008 to incorporate the much-needed changes to clarify the legal position of intermediaries or those who provide web-hosting...

Money makes news. When it is found, promiscuously. And when it is lost, presumptively. And when it is found to lie hidden. Also when it stands brazenly, as in election candidatures. Does hunger, to satisfy which money, income, wages — the power to purchase food — are needed, make news? Does the crisis in our agriculture make news? When Amartya Sen speaks of hunger and malnutrition, when MS Swaminathan does so...