-The Hindu     To be able to deliver appropriate legal services to the rural and tribal communities, we need an alternative delivery system with a different model of legal service providers Delivery of legal services to the rich and the corporate class is organised not through individual lawyers but through a series of networked law firms. These firms employ hundreds of lawyers and domain experts all over the country to provide highly specialised...

-Outlook Civil Society activists and members of the networks of People Living with HIV gathered here today demanding tabling of the HIV/AIDS Bill during the Winter Session of Parliament beginning December 5. The Bill, which aims to protect the rights of people infected and affected by HIV along with providing free and complete HIV related treatment to them, was finalised by the Health Ministry way back in 2006. "HIV positive people face stigma...

-The Indian Express Patna: In September, 43,477 primary and middle school contractual teachers recruited by the Bihar government took the mandatory "competency test", which is based on the syllabi of classes 3-5. Of these, 10,614 teachers, or about 24 per cent, failed the test. The state government has recruited over 2.5 lakh contractual teachers since it launched its mega drive to fill the vacancies in 2007. These teachers get two chances to...

-The Hindu The pressure to furnish proof, the fear of fighting a superior, the likely impact on career, and adverse publicity prevent women from reporting sexual harassment An employee of Tehelka accuses Tarun Tejpal, founder and editor-in-chief of the weekly magazine, of sexually assaulting her during an event organised in Goa, and the police file a first information report. A law intern claims she was sexually harassed by a retired judge of...

-The Indian Express New Delhi: Stating that denying out-of-school children admission constitutes a "clear cut deprivation of their right to education", Directorate of Education has ordered schools to enrol all such children. A fact sheet released by the Delhi Right to Education Forum has revealed that only 70 per cent of Delhi's children go to school, against the national figure of 94.5 per cent and 100 per cent for states such as...