While the state government has made it clear that the Right to Education Act (RTE Act) will be enforced from the current academic year, there are many who are still unclear as to what the Act means, especially the people who will be most benefited by it. RTE dictates that 25% of admissions in all private unaided schools (private minority unaided schools have been exempted) will be reserved free of cost...

-Express News Service Sambalpur: Resentment is brewing among hapless tribals in this part of the State against security personnel. Facing arrest after being branded as Maoists, these tribals are now raising voice against the alleged excesses. This became evident earlier this week when hundreds of tribals in the periphery of Sunabeda wildlife sanctuary gheraoed the Collectorate demanding relocation. The tribals said despite the emotional attachment, they were prepared to sever ties with their...

54 children eligible for primary schooling from these families prefer private schools Across the country, doors of even private schools are set to open for the weaker sections, thanks to the Right to Education Act, but here is a government primary school run by a local body in Nagapattinam district of Tamil Nadu that does not have a single Dalit student. Even though there are Dalit communities in areas such as Pachayankadu...

HETA, India – At the entrance to this village in India’s eastern state of Jharkhand, a large pond glistened under the bright autumn sun. Yellow and blue lilies surrounded it. A tailor was stitching clothes outside his shop while a few boys nearby were playing carrom on the lid of a rusted oil barrel. It was a tranquil, rustic setting – a candidate for a landscape painting, it seemed. But it...

Over the past week, I’ve chronicled my investigative research on starvation in India – a project I’ve been working on with a colleague from the Centre for Equity Studies, a New Delhi think tank. We’ve told stories of people who were forced to eat poisoned roots to stay alive; a family that suffered the deaths of members from three different generations in a span of 24 hours; a woman faced with...