-The Hindu A crowd funding platform for legal fees, www.azadi.in, is enabling greater ease of access to justice for all. The founders are four young men from Kochi Four young men from Kochi - Radhakrishnan Ram Manohar, Siddharth Vijayan, Praveen Paul and Stalvart John – a couple of years back thought up something that won our hearts – ‘Sisters Across Borders’. Those were hard times in flood-hit Kashmir; aid was pouring in...

-The Hindu A levy on firms, resources from which are earmarked for vocational training, is what could help the country bridge the skill gap in its workforce. Financing technical vocational education and training (VET) is costlier than general education due to its technical nature. Pre-service training requires the installation of equipment and trained instructors to train youth. This raises the cost of training, and remains a factor preventing pre-service training from expanding...

-The Hindu The amendments to the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986, passed by Parliament recently, demonstrate a lack of national commitment to abolishing all forms of child labour. Instead of attempting an overhaul of legislation that has proved ineffective in curbing the phenomenon, Parliament has allowed children up to the age of 14 to be employed in ‘family enterprises’, and created a new category of ‘adolescents’ (the 14-18 age...

-Press Statement from Right to Education Forum Lok Sabha has passed today Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2012 and allowed work for children below the age of 14 years in family enterprises is a regressive move. RTE Forum, a coalition of ten thousand grass-root organizations, people’s movement, educationists and teachers organizations, has said that  “Today is black day for the millions of Indian children; they will now be deprived...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: The government has put on hold a key research scholarship scheme meant for tribal students, angering even teachers and triggering allegations that a segment already marginalised was being sidelined further. Sources in the University Grants Commission and the ministry of tribal affairs said the higher education regulator had kept in abeyance the National Fellowship for Scheduled Tribes under instructions from the Centre. The scheme ensured Rs 25,000 to Rs...