-Firstpost.com After the UPA-II released its self-congratulatory 79-page ‘Report card to the People', National Advisory Council (NAC) member and leading social activist Aruna Roy has come down heavily on the government for its poor performance in the social sector. Roy, an instrumental force behind the Right to Information Act, criticised the government for stalling on essential legislations such as the Food Security Bill, the Land Acquisition Bill and the Lokpal Bill. Roy spoke...

-The Hindu     The killings of Mahendra Karma and his colleagues call not for retributive violence but for a deeper reflection on the discontent among the tribals of central India and their dispossession In the summer of 2006, I had a long conversation with Mahendra Karma, the Chhattisgarh Congress leader who was killed in a terror attack by the Naxalites last week. I was not alone - with me were five other members...

-PTI Panaji: Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar on Monday called the Right to Education (RTE) Act as Union Minister Kapil Sibal's "absolutely foolish policy". "RTE Act is Kapil Sibal's absolutely foolish policy. There are certain parameters in the policy which are wrong," Mr Parrikar told reporters while objecting to the RTE Act's no-detention clause. "The idea of no-detention is good, but there should be good parameters to implement it. After RTE, studying has...

-The Times of India NAGPUR: Every school, regardless of the board it is affiliated to, has to obtain a no objection certificate (NOC) from the local education office as per the directives of Right to Education Act (RTE). Without a NOC, the school effectively becomes 'illegal' as it is functioning in contravention of RTE laws. The process had started last year but till date many schools have not applied to the local...

-Stanford Social Innovation Review Looked at from the perspective of the political right, and the left, and the center, the proposed law making CSR mandatory is a really bad idea. Companies all over the world are under increasing pressure to demonstrate that they are responsible citizens, with about 70 percent of large companies in Europe and the Americas reporting on their corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives. Despite this, the very concept...