The denial of equality, dignity and autonomy to persons with disabilities lies at the core of disability rights. “Disability need not be an obstacle to success … It is my hope that … this century will mark a turning point for inclusion of people with disabilities in the lives of their societies.” — Professor Stephen Hawking, “Foreword,” World Report on Disability. The inauguration of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of...

-The Telegraph   The Meghalaya government today approved the rules for implementation of the ambitious Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009, or the RTE Act, 2009. According to the “child-centric” and “child-friendly” act, free and compulsory education should be provided to children in the age group of 6-14 years in Classes I to VII; no child should be held back, expelled or required to pass a board examination...

-The Indian Express   The Right to Education Act, or RTE, has been justly criticised as forcing all of India’s educational establishments into a bureaucratic straitjacket. Its aim is laudable and urgent: to ensure that every Indian child has access to an education that meets certain minimum standards. But figuring out those standards is hard, and this is where Delhi’s tendency to obsessively centralise, divorced from the actual realities of education...

-PTI Twenty-two-year-old Dolly now dreams of doing her Ph.D and leaving behind bitter memories of her childhood when she was forced to sit on a separate bench after her teachers found that she was a manual scavenger. Along with 200 women who used to work as manual scavenger, performing the symbolic religious ablution in the holy Ganga, Dolly entered the Kashi Vishwanath temple here as part of Sulabh International's endeavour to...

-The Hindu   75% of estimated cost to be released as first instalment Hitherto, only half the project cost was released as first instalment As part of an effort to ensure timely and effective implementation of works proposed under the Member of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme [MPLADS], the Centre has decided to substantially raise the amount to be released in the first instalment. The MPLADS allows MPs to suggest works to the...