ASHAs will continue to bear the burden of the government's rural health mission as a new order lists more incentive-based services. On May 31, a Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare order listed additional incentivised duties for accredited social health activists, or ASHAs, but was silent on the issue of regularisation of their employment. ASHAs, who bridge the gap between the rural population and the nearest health care outlets under...

Empower school principals to truly deliver education to India The Right to Education (RTE) law, and the subsequent Supreme Court judgment, has focused attention on the future of school education in India. The judgment on the provision that requires private schools to offer 25 per cent of their seats to economically weaker sections opens new opportunities for the poor, and that is welcome. But in our fiercely hierarchical society, class-conscious...

-The Deccan Herald   Urges all chief ministers to ensure proper implementation of the Act The Centre on Thursday directed the states to ensure that educational institutions falling under the ambit of the Right to Education (RTE) Act adhere to its recommendations. “Implement and monitor admission of children from disadvantaged groups and weaker sections u/s 12(1)(c) in all unaided non-minority schools,” wrote Union Minister for Human Resource Development Kapil Sibal, in a letter to...

One would expect a debate such as the current one on poverty estimates to be conducted with a serious exploration of its various facets. However, instead of a comprehensive, fact-driven exploration, the debate has yielded aspersions on the intellectual honesty of academicians. Although given its electoral connotations, one does expect political biases to creep into the debate, the barrage of criticism hurled at the Planning Commission, over its affidavit in...

-The Hindu In Goa, victorious MLAs fielded by every major party are facing criminal cases, whereas 37 (93 per cent) of the 40 newly elected members of the Assembly are ‘crorepatis,' compared to 55 per cent in the 2007 elections. Goa once again has only one (3 per cent) woman MLA. The analysis released on Saturday by Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and National Election Watch is based on the information supplied by...