While the Delhi government is responsible for implementing the Right to Education Act in the city, its own schools seem to be the worst offenders. Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights (DCPCR) has received 14,752 complaints since April 1 last year when RTE was enforced. Of these, as many as 12,332 complaints were related to government and MCD schools. These complaints were either received in bulk through NGOs or...

An international website that helped sustain recent mass movements in countries such as Syria, Libya, Canada and Brazil has involved itself in the Anna Hazare campaign. Avaaz.org is co-founded by Res Publica, an American “community of public sector professionals dedicated to promoting good governance, civic virtue and deliberative democracy”, and MoveOn.org, an American “non-profit progressive public policy advocacy group”. Avaaz has the expertise to manage funds, strategies and propaganda for public campaigns...

It will be a mistake to assume that the food security bill, in its present form, will necessarily and sharply reduce India’s embarrassingly high rates of child malnutrition. Satiating hunger and providing nutrients that are essential for healthy growth and fitness are not quite the same thing, a fact highlighted by the leading medical journal Lancet in a recent research paper. The article says the prevalence of anaemia in India...

-The Hindu   Members of the Parliamentary Committee on Law and Justice who had a “very frank, intense and productive” discussion with social activist Anna Hazare on the Lokpal Bill are amazed that he after, giving them an impression of being “satisfied” with the interaction, said “something else” to the media. The meeting ended with the Committee asking Team Anna to send its Jan Lokpal Bill to it for further discussion so that...

Scotching the urge to self-censor, the press must report ‘bad news’—to guard the guards, empower the citizen, and usher in change When you open a newspaper, or switch on the television, and there’s nothing but good news, it’s time to start worrying about what they’re not telling you. Nobody likes bad news, but the world is full of it. Don’t believe anyone who tells you otherwise: they want your vote...