-The Telegraph India’s education system is marked by poor quality and produces “functional illiterates”, the chief of a UN body told The Telegraph here today. “India has made a lot of progress in achieving education for all, but what kind of education is being imparted and whether there are adequate teachers are issues of concern. The result is functional illiteracy,” Unesco director-general Irina Bokova said on the sidelines of a conference by...

-The Hindu Delhi, Maharashtra and Rajasthan are taking steps to rewrite the unconstitutional law on beggary and decriminalise poverty According to the 1959 law on beggary, Bombay Prevention of Begging Act, anyone perceived as having “no visible means of subsistence” and “wandering about” can be branded a beggar and detained in certified institutions for a period of not less than one year and up to 10 years for second time offenders. For many...

-The Hindu Mangalore: In what reveals the persistence of caste-based segregation of children in primary schools in rural Karnataka, around 13.7 per cent of Dalit children surveyed in the State have claimed that their teacher had asked them to sit separately from ‘higher caste’ children in the classroom, says a study released by the Centre for Study of Social Exclusion and Inclusive Policy, Mangalore University. Released on October 18 here, ‘Discrimination and...

-The Telegraph The Centre is planning to hold a comprehensive workshop for tribal women in Jharkhand to make them more alert to the menace of human trafficking, the decision mirroring its concern over the rise in number of such victims from the state. Krishna Tirath, Union minister of women and child development who met Jharkhand Women’s Commission member Vasavi Kiro in Delhi today, said the workshop would be held sometime in August-September...

-The Indian Express India may not be a testing hub for Big Pharma. But informed consent must be non-negotiable Figures released by the World Health Organisation, which show that 10 Indian subjects of clinical field trials die every week, have rekindled concerns that this country has become a testing hub for Big Pharma. Ironically, the same figures deflate this persistent fear, revealing that only 1.5 per cent of global trials have been...