The jinxed women’s reservation bill received a boost today with a parliamentary panel advocating immediate passage in its present form. The panel rejected any dilution of the proposed 33 per cent quota for women with party-based reservation or double-member constituencies. The bill on women’s reservation in the Lok Sabha and state Assemblies should be passed “and put in action without further delay”, the standing committee on personnel, public grievances, law and...

China on Monday accused the developed nations of trying to “split” the developing countries to weaken their voice at the Copenhagen summit. It also called upon the developing countries to come together in the “common interest of mankind.” Interacting with a group of journalists here on Monday, Chinese Ambassador Zhang Yan said protests by the Alliance of Small Island States against the drafts prepared by G-77 countries and Brazil, South Africa,...

In his engaging book on a love affair between a Hyderabadi princess and an Englishman in the 18th century, William Dalrymple reminds us that “the road from Hyderabad to the port of Masulipatam was one of the most beautiful in the Deccan”. In unearthing this fact from travelogues of the time, Dalrymple draws attention not just to the wealth of Hyderabad, inherited from the richest kingdom of the Deccan, Golconda,...

BANGALORE: Child Rights and You (CRY) held a “Public Hearing” on equal education to all here on Friday, as part of their nationwide campaign inviting people to sign a charter to the Government asking for three amendments to the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009. The charter demands that children below six years, as well as between 15 to 18 years are included in the main...

Tuition is seen as a minimum requirement for any kind of achievement in our academic scene, which is marked by competitive pressure and high aspirations. ONE of the more remarkable features of our education system is the way it has allowed and even encouraged the proliferation of private tuition outside the regular school system. This is something relatively unique to India, as it is not found to this extent even...