-The Economic Times Ethnic conflict in Assam, like in some other parts of the north-east is decades old, but has increased in frequency since the late 1970s. An extremely militant agitation ostensibly to throw out 'foreigners' , but targeted more generally against all non-Assamese people, gripped the state from 1979 to 1985 . It was led by the All-Assam Students Union (AASU). One of the factors that gave the agitation ground support was...

-The Times of India NAGPUR: The state education department has moved into an aggressive mode on learning that 10 lakh students have ditched government schools (zilla PARIshad and corporation) and shifted to private institutions in the last five years. The revelation came from Sanjay Deshmukh, director of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan (SSA) and the man leading RTE implementation in Maharashtra. "Five years ago we had about 78 lakh students, now the figure has...

-Outlook Kejriwal’s original experiment in Sundar Nagri lies in tatters It was the summer of 2002. An IRS officer on study leave from the Income Tax department would travel daily to the slums of Sundar Nagri, in the north-east district of Delhi, close to the Uttar Pradesh border. Working with friends, he aimed to make the locality a powerful example of people’s empowerment. He was then an unknown; now, everyone knows...

-The Hindu Literacy has helped people in the State maximise the benefits of the rural employment guarantee scheme Kerala’s achievements have long been celebrated by development economists — high literacy rates, including among girls, low infant mortality rates and so on. There has also been a spate of writings highlighting the ills of Kerala society. Critics have pointed to the high rates of suicides and feminists have also raised difficult questions. While...

-The Indian Express Ahmedabad: Manubhai Karsanbhai Patel, a retired policeman who was the first investigating officer in the Dipda Darwaza massacre case, on Monday became the first policeman to be convicted and sentenced in any of the post-Godhra riot cases. Patel was charged with not filing an accurate FIR, not reporting that 11 people had gone missing on the day of the riot and not protecting evidence of the massacre. He was...