-The Hindu It is easy to enrol them in school, but difficult to retain them Bangalore: It is around noon and a noisy bunch of boys are playing lagori in a small colony nestling between tall buildings in Papareddy Palya near Nagarabhavi II Stage. Some distance away, 13-year-old Basalingamma, daughter of a migrant labourer from Raichur, is watching the boys, carrying her elder sister's six-month-old son on her hip. The colony has close...

-The Indian Express Demonstrations of success are necessary to uphold faith in education in rural areas. I have lived for part of the last several years in a small village not far from a busy tourist town in central India. There was no electric power when I first moved in. Many homes now have power, and most have cellphones. Nearly all children go to school, at least through the primary level. Ten years...

-The Hindustan Times New Delhi: A grey smog cover descended on Delhi, with residents of the Capital complaining of breathing problems on Tuesday. Experts said this was the season’s first severe smog spell, which may recur with the onset of winter. While a section of scientists blamed the gloom on pollution triggered by Diwali crackers, Delhi Pollution Control Committee chief Sandeep Mishra took a different stand. “Diwali pollution got cleared by Monday noon. We...

-The Hindu     The practices concerned are most widespread in South Asia and in South Asian diasporas. The European Parliament's recent resolution circumvents India's contention that caste oppression does not constitute racial discrimination. On October 10, the 766 members of the European Parliament, who represent just over half-a-billion people in 28-member-states, passed a historic resolution recognising caste-based discrimination and discrimination based on work and descent as a violation of human rights and an...

-The Times of India HUSSAINPUR (Muzaffarnagar, UP): Diwali was meant to be a happy day for many families in Hussainpur. It was decided, says village pradhan Shaista's husband, Shahnawaz Khan, that some Muslims who had taken shelter from the neighbouring Mohammadpur-Raisingh village during the recent riots would go back to their homes shortly after the festival of LIGhts on coming Sunday. But the killings of three Muslim boys on Wednesday has again...