-The Times of India Government cited the Constitution to deny information on the Mumbai terror attack convict Ajmal Kasab's mercy petition. The ministry of home affairs rejected an RTI application filed by activist Venkatesh Nayak saying it was "privileged information" under article 74(2) of the Constitution. The Rashtrapati Bhawan went a step further to say that the information is not held in a "subject-wise manner." Nayak had in January sought information for...

-The Hindu Freedom of expression will continue to remain under siege unless all groups accept that people can have different opinions and beliefs in a free country “Our tradition teaches tolerance; our philosophy preaches tolerance; our Constitution practises tolerance; let us not dilute it.” These stirring sentiments were expressed by Justice Chinnappa Reddy in a Supreme Court judgment pronounced in August 1986 which invalidated expulsion from school of students belonging to Jehova’s...

-The Times of India Pune: About 35% admissions under the reservation policy of the Right to Free and Compulsory Education Act (RTE) have been effected in the state so far. So far, 66,306 out of 2.25 lakh students from the economically and socially weaker sections have taken admissions in 8,500 private schools across the state under the RTE. The process began on January 1 with the distribution of forms. State director of primary education...

-Counterpunch.org     “The rearing and guiding of a civilization must depend upon its intellectual class.”     BR Ambedkar, Ranade, Gandhi and Jinnah, 1943, Delhi. I. Arrest. States are clumsy with their enormous power. When it suits the modern state, it uses it immense apparatus to constraint those who make claims upon it or who say things that denigrate this or that section of society. A college professor in West Bengal draws a cartoon of...

-Deccan Herald Bangalore: While 42 children of ragpickers in Pune are all set to begin a promising academic year under the provisions of the Right To Education Act, domestic workers in Bangalore are waking up to the potential of the provisions to provide better education to their children.    This is mainly due to lack of awareness, according to Domestic Workers Rights Union (DWRM) that comprises nearly 2,200 domestic workers spread across...