-The Times of India There was some grumbling when Indian taxpayers were told in 2004 that they would have to begin paying an education cess of 2%. But the move also inspired a lot of positivity, because of a widely-shared belief that upgrading education is the most effective thing our government can do to lift Indians into affluence. Although it took the Parliament another half decade to enact the Right to...

-The Indian Express Khunti: It could not have been an easy decision for Jyoti Mariyam Hora, 10, to leave Khunti and head for Delhi. Though her best friend, Jayamani Guria, accompanied Jyoti, leaving behind her five siblings and alcoholic father should have wieghed heavily on her mind. Her mother had died when she was a toddler. They boarded the Swarna Jayanti Express to Delhi on April 11 along with Jayamani's neighbour, Chandmani,...

-The Hindu Waking up to the vulnerability of children in various institutions - schools, children's homes, households and other establishments dealing with minors -- the Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights (DCPCR) on Tuesday released a set of draft guidelines for prevention of child abuse. Confident that these draft guidelines, which have been now opened for comments, would be notified by next month, DCPCR chairman Arun Mathur said: "The aim is...

-The Telegraph A jump in the Centre's annual social welfare spending from Rs 7,500 crore in 1991 to Rs 3 lakh crore now has failed to make much difference on the ground because panchayati raj institutions are being kept away from implementation of the schemes, a committee has found. The committee headed by senior Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar, in its report released on the eve of National Panchayat Day, pitched for...

-The Telegraph Jamshedpur: A school is a primary lesson in going away from fear and towards power, feel the CRPF. Last year, the paramilitary force reopened a government-run primary school at Thalkobad at Saranda's Manoharpur block in West Singhbhum. Maoists had partially bombed the school in 2004, causing it to become one of the many Maoist-styled cradles in the area that drilled anti-democratic ideologies and taught practical lessons on bombs, guns and...