If you are a resident of Madhya Pradesh, Muslim and poor, nowhere close to the class of nawabs who can pay for murg musallam or mutton raan, watch your pot! The BJP government, led by Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, has just armed itself with a big danda ostensibly to protect the holy cow and its progeny. But, make no mistake, it’s a stick to beat you with. To save your...

-IANS   Breaking the stereotypes associated with madrassas, a 50-year-old Islamic seminary here teaches subjects like personality development and home science, runs an elaborate teacher training programme, has a higher girl enrolment ratio and has students who are no less active on social networking websites than their counterparts in the metros. Welcome to Jamiatul Falah, a madrassa in Bilariyaganj town of Uttar Pradesh's Azamgarh's district that has kept pace with modern education. The...

-The Hindu The Karnataka High Court on Monday directed the Principal Secretary, Primary Education Department, to be present in court on January 10 as it was not satisfied with the reply given by the government counsel regarding the action-taken report that was to be submitted to the court on providing toilets and drinking water facility in all government schools in the State. The Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Vikramajit Sen and Justice...

With schools having to reserve 25% of their seats for economically backward students from the next academic year, the poor kids will get an opportunity to study in elite schools. Puja Pednekar weighs the pros and cons. Ten-year-old Rahul Waghmare trudges to a civic school in Andheri every day. He wants to design automobiles when he grows up. But now, he dreams of studying in a posh school. However, he can’t afford...

If we get it right, the Food Security Bill carries the potential to alter the destinies of millions of India's poor and disadvantaged people, by assuring them as a legal right sufficient food to live with dignity. It was approved by the Cabinet after over two years of intense, sometimes fractious debate. Opinion in the Cabinet itself was reportedly divided around the proposed law. Gaping divisions persist, even as the...