The implementation of Right to Education Act may have got a shot in the arm with the recent Supreme Court ruling upholding the 25% reservation in unaided private schools for children from lower income group families but inAndhra Pradesh (and possibly other states in the country), the Act might soon figure among the many well-intentioned government schemes that do not impact, leave alone benefit, its target group. At best, the...

-The Economic Times Economic growth produces prosperity as well as garbage. The faster the economy grows, the more its people consume, and the more garbage they generate. When economic growth is sustained over a long period of time, garbage starts to pile up at a faster pace. Garbage just cannot be wished away even as some of us can move around it with eyes wide shut. It needs to be collected,...

BANGALORE: That the motorists in Bangalore don't seem to care for pedestrians has been a subject of intense debate for long. The debate has been set to rest by a New Delhi-based green group's report that statistically shows Bangalore's deficiency in this category. Among the seven Indian cities surveyed, Bangalore scores the lowest - a measly 30 out of 100 - in the 'motorist behaviour' category, one of the nine parameters...

-The Hindustan Times   Helicopters were kept on standby for casualty evacuation; targets were chosen with care after studying satellite images and the troops were warned — the encounters would be fierce and the naxals could be in the hundreds, even thousands. After weeks of planning, security forces armed with automatic rifles, satellite phones and Swedish Carl Gustav rocket launchers made their very first foray into the dense Abujhmad jungle, straddling the...

The government is planning to tighten the rules for issuing and renewing driving licences to make the process “fudge proof” after a study showed drivers’ fault accounted for most road accidents in the country. A committee of state transport commissioners and officials from the National Informatics Centre recently came up with suggestions on possible amendments to the rules. The panel, headed by Andhra Pradesh transport commissioner Hiralal Samariya, has submitted its report...