Land is contentious. With urbanisation and demand for non-agricultural use, coupled with lack of employment and skills for those in small-holder and subsistence-level agriculture, this is understandable. In western Europe, especially in Britain, and more especially in England, land markets were freed up before the Industrial Revolution and access to education and skills became more broad-based. We haven't introduced reforms that enable people to move out of agriculture, or diversify...
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Neoliberal Act by Anil Sadgopal
The Right to Education Act, which lacks a transformational vision, is geared to preparing foot soldiers for the global market. THE most encouraging and delightful news regarding school education in India since the pro-market reforms began in 1991 came from Erode district in Tamil Nadu recently. To be sure, it is neither about the World Bank-sponsored District Primary Education Programme (DPEP) of the 1990s nor about the internationally funded and...
More »Teachers first by Padma Sarangapani
The state is not serious about the need for a robust programme of elementary teacher education to realise the right to education. IN India today it is difficult to decide how the agenda for teacher education and its reform can be taken forward. The Right to Education will succeed only if teachers are able to work to ensure that all children do become educated by attending school; effectively, this means...
More »The women of India's Barefoot College bring light to remote villages by Nilanjana Bhowmick
Being trained as solar-power engineers enables women from rural India and Africa to introduce electricity in isolated areas Securing the end of her bright yellow and orange sari firmly around her head, Santosh Devi climbs up to the rooftop of her house to clean her solar panels. The shining, mirrored panels, which she installed herself last year, are a striking sight against the simple one-storey homes of her village. No...
More »Govt to include NAC's recommendations in Land Acquisition Bill
-The Business Standard Government today said the Land Acquisition Amendment Bill will include the recommendations made by Sonia Gandhi-led NAC, and once passed, the legislation will ensure that there are "no more Singurs" in the country. "The recommendations of the NAC will be included in the Land Acquisition bill...There will be no more Singurs. It will support the aspirations of the people," Law Minister M Veerappa Moily told reporters here. The Law...
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