Pooja Gujjar is the consummate politician. She’s quick-witted and outspoken, and, as her every-ready, dimpled smile suggests, always up for a challenge. She has, admittedly, a girlish streak. The first time she stood for election she chose as her symbol a flower. And although she lost, to a boy, she’s proud that all the girls voted for her. Pooja is the deputy “sarpanch” – Hindi for leader – of her school’s...

In a decision that may prompt private schools in Delhi to rejig the entire list for nursery admissions, the Delhi High Court on Tuesday modified and laid down new distance criteria for admission of toddlers under the Economically Weaker Section (EWS) category. A division bench of Acting Chief Justice A K Sikri and Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw set the priority criteria for children applying under the 25 per cent EWS quota...

Let down by governments that curb free speech, we have become our own hecklers In free speech jurisprudence, there is a concept called a “heckler’s veto”. It means the ability — but not the right — of a private actor, the heckler, to be loud and obnoxious enough to obscure the free speech of others. By pattern, a heckler is someone who is unable to defend his argument by legitimate use...

A school teacher in the tribal Betul district of Madhya Pradesh asked students to fetch liquor for him and then caned the girls, forcing them to dance in a closed classroom on Republic Day. The teacher, Mahesh Malviya, has been suspended and an inquiry ordered against him. This shocking incident came to light when 30 school children from Deochowki village in Betul and their parents reached the district collector's office on...

-IANS A day-long shutdown began in Andhra Pradesh Monday on a call given by Dalit groups to protest the recent desecration of statues of B.R. Ambedkar. Schools, colleges, shops and business establishments remained closed in many districts while protestors blocked roads to stop buses of state-owned Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC). Student organistaions, especially Osmania University student Joint Action Committee has also called for a shutdown to protest the desecration of...